Mischief Managed
by VictoryNike
Summary: Join the Marauders, Lily, Marlene, Mary and Alice for seven years of pranking, laughter, danger, magic, and yes, romance. See the world through the eyes of a doomed generation growing up during the rise of Voldemort and the Order of Pheonix. PG-13
1. On the way to Hogwarts

**Author's Note**: I'm still undecided on whether to continue this story or not, so I'd really appreciate any reviews to let me know if this story line is any good. This is some of the first fanfiction I've written, so please excuse my amateur writing. ALSO: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE UNDERLINED PORTIONS IN THE CHAPTER BELOW DO NOT BELONG TO ME. THEY BELONG TO JK ROWLING, FROM THE FLASHBACK PART OF CHAPTER 33 OF THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. 

~VictoryNike

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters mentioned belong to me. The characters, the Harry Potter Universe, Hogwarts etc. all belong to JK Rowling. Only the plot is mine. However, the underlined portions are JK Rowling's work, from the flashback part of Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33.

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><p>Eleven year old James Potter adjusted his round glasses as he took in the sight around him with an exhilarated air. A puffing scarlet train crawling with students stood in front of him. James had been waiting for this moment for as long as he could remember. At last, he would be on his way to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.<p>

"Mom! Geroff me, the train's going to leave!" he whined with embarrassment as his mother kissed him goodbye.

James pretended not to hear his father's warnings not to get into any mischief and muttered a hurried goodbye to his parents before wheeling his suitcase toward the train. He heaved his suitcase onto the train and lugged it through the hallways in search of a place to sit.

"Sorry, Sorry!" he said quickly when he opened a compartment door and found it full of fifth year girls. James closed the door quickly and hurried away. He pulled open another compartment at the end of the car. He found an angular dark-haired boy lounging across the seats on one side of the compartment.

"Mind if I sit here?" James asked him.

The boy shrugged indifferently. James studied the boy. He appeared to be around James' own age, eleven or so, with grey eyes and a haughty look about his face.

There came a sudden sob from the corner, causing James to jump. For the first time, James realized there was another person in the compartment, a girl with thick, dark red hair. She had her face pressed to the window and was huddled in the corner, evidently crying.

"I wouldn't bother talking to her, if I were you," the boy said, in an explanatory tone. "She's been like that for the past ten minutes, she won't say anything at all," he said, glancing at the girl.

"Why," James wondered aloud, "would anyone cry on their way to _Hogwarts_?"

"Beats me," the boy replied, grinning,

James laughed. The girl seemed to be trying to blend into the wall.

"I'm James by the way, James Potter," he told the boy.

"I'm Sirius. Sirius Black," a shadow seemed to fall across his face as he said the word "Black". James vaguely recognized Black as the surname of a strictly pureblood family.

Just then, they felt a jolt beneath them as the train roared to life. James peered out of the window in time to wave to his parents. He felt slightly chagrined as he caught sight of his father clutching James's broomstick in his other hand as he waved.

James had, in fact, attempted to sneak the broomstick onto the train to Hogwarts. James loved to ride his broom, and was rather good at Quidditch, which he hoped to play on his house team. Unfortunately, first years like himself were not allowed to bring their own broomsticks to Hogwarts, or play on the house team. James, who was never one to follow the rules, had been caught by his father trying to bribe a sixth year Gryffindor to take his broomstick into school for him. His father had confiscated the broomstick, as well as the money James had been using to bribe the sixth year. Now James would have to make do with the slow, cheap school broomsticks. He scowled at the thought.

There was a creak as the compartment door slid open. A skinny boy with repulsively greasy long hair that hung to his shoulders stepped in and sat opposite to the girl, though as far as possible from Sirius. James fiddled with his trunk nonchalantly, his mind still on his Nimbus 1500 broomstick as the greasy haired boy spoke to the girl.

"You'd better be in Slytherin,"he heard the boy say to the girl. James looked around at him, taking in the sallow complexion, the hair that hung in oily curtains around his face.

"Slytherin?" James said, quickly, "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked Sirius.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," Sirius said, darkly.

"Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!" James said.

Sirius grinned. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you headed, if you've got the choice?"

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!" James exclaimed, hefting an imaginary sword. "like my dad," he added proudly.

The boy made a disparaging noise. James turned to face him. "Got a problem with that?" he asked.

"No," the boy said, sneering slightly, but if you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interjected, causing James to roar with laughter. 

The girl sat up suddenly, and James noticed she had startlingly green eyes. She looked from James to Sirius with an expression of dislike, her face red from crying. 

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." she said to the boy, and they hurried out of the compartment.

"Ooooooooooooo" James and Sirius echoed her words jeeringly. James tried to trip the boy- Severus- as he passed.

"See ya Snivellus!"Sirius yelled as Severus slid the door to the compartment shut.

"Snivellus? I ask you...that was bloody brilliant!" James said, laughing.

"Did you see his hair?" Sirius sniggered.

"He probably rubs it with grease every morning!" James said, erupting into a fit of laughter. At that moment, the compartment door opened once more.

"Oh! Er, hi. Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," the boy who had just entered had evidently expected the compartment to be empty. James nodded. The boy had light brown hair and deep circles under his eyes.

"Who're you?" Sirius asked him as he pushed his trunk onto the racks over their heads.

"I'm Remus Lupin," the boy said quietly, sitting down next to James. "And you are?"

James and Sirius introduced themselves. There came a knock on the compartment door. "Would you like anything from the trolley, dears?" Sirius got up and slid open the door to reveal a plump lady pushing a trolley laden with snacks.

James felt his mouth water. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of Galleons. Remus had already advanced towards the cart and returned to his seat, his arms laden with snacks, predominately chocolate. James felt his eyes widen. "Surely you're not going to eat all that!" he asked Remus.

"Watch me," Remus muttered thickly through a mouthful of chocolate, unwrapping another chocolate frog. James nearly bought out the licorice wands, which he had always been partial to. Sirius didn't bother to buy anything, but simply mooched some candy from Remus's enormous pile whenever he wasn't looking.

Suddenly, James had an idea. "I'll bet you both a Galleon you can't stuff more chocolate frogs in your mouth at once than I can," he told the others, snatching a frog from Remus's stack.

"I'll bet I can!" Sirius replied, stuffing three frogs into his mouth at once.

"I'b gothd more in my mouf than botf of you alreafy," Remus cried, his mouth full, gesturing to a pile of discarded wrappers and cards on the seat beside him.

James grinned. There was nothing he loved like a good competition. "Bring it on!" he said, before madly unwrapping chocolate frogs and stuffing them into his mouth. James had managed to get seven in his mouth before they heard a cry from the corridor outside their compartment. "NOOOOOOO! I didn't take those, I swear!" came a voice.

James shoved open their compartment door and stuck his head into the corridor, wondering what was happening. Others were doing the same up and down the hall.

A fifth year Slytherin had a chubby first year with mousy brown hair by the scruff of the neck. "I think you're lying," the Slytherin was saying to the first year, with a malicious grin "I think you did take my Pumpkin Pasty. And you're gonna have to pay for it,"

"Y-you can have my money," the first year squeaked, pulling a galleon out of his robes, "Take it all! Just p-please d-don't hurt me!"

The Slytherin pulled out his wand. "_Confun-_"

"_Protego_!" James yelled, barely conscious of having pulled his own wand out and casting the spell. His shield spell wasn't strong enough to reflect the jinx, but just managed to repel it. The Slytherin dropped the chubby boy and began advancing toward James. James did not move. He simply stood his ground, staring up into the hard, cold grey eyes of the Slytherin. James gripped his wand more tightly, sure the blond Slytherin was going to jinx him, instead the Slytherin stopped.

"Move aside. That little idiot there is none of your business. That wasn't half bad magic for a firstie, though. You'd do well in Slytherin," the Slytherin paused and gave James what he evidently thought was a kind, mentoring smile.

To his surprise, James realized the chubby boy was now cowering behind him. Sirius stood at his side, his hand clenched around the handle of his wand inside his pocket, but did not draw it out. Remus seemed frozen in fear and shock. "No," James said, straightening up, "I will not move. And don't associate me with Slytherin scum like you,"

The Slytherin drew himself up angrily and pulled out his wand. Luckily for James, the trolley lady, who was returning from the end of the train with her now empty food trolley arrived. "Now then, all of you know the rules about magic on the train! Wands away. Now!" she cried. The Slytherin reluctantly pocketed his wand. James slid his wand back into his own pocket warily. "You," she said to the Slytherin,"should be in the Prefect's compartment. The meeting started five minutes ago," For the first time, James noticed the shiny new Prefect's badge pinned to the Slytherin's chest. The Slytherin slunk toward the front of the train, but not before casting James a threatening look over his shoulder. James met his eyes, his expression defiant.

The trolley lady gave James a disapproving look before wheeling her trolley after the Slytherin. The other students retreated back into their compartments as well, giving James appraising looks. One even patted him on the back and congratulated him on taking on a fifth year. James grinned, trying to look as if it wasn't a big deal. He turned back into his compartment, to find the brown haired boy he had just rescued sitting next to Remus. The boy's face broke into a goofy smile. "Oh man, thank you so much! I swear, I nearly _died_-"

"You weren't going to die, you git, you would just be seriously maimed. What were you thinking, messing with a Slytherin, and Lucius Malfoy on top of that?" Sirius scoffed.

"Lucius Malfoy? That's his name?" James muttered to himself. It was rather fortunate that the only one of his schoolbooks he had bothered to open before tossing them carelessly in his trunk was his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. It was even more fortunate that the one spell he had actually read about was the shield charm.

"It was just one pasty, I didn't think he'd notice," the chubby boy said, blushing.

"What's your name?" Remus asked the boy.

"Peter Pettigrew," the boy said, looking around at them. "You took on a fifth year!" he gushed at James. "I can't believe it,"

"Stop being such a ninny, Pete," Sirius said casually.

"Who are you guys?" Peter asked, looking at James and Sirius adoringly.

"James Potter,"

"Sirius Black,"

"Remus Lupin,"

Peter looked from person to person with the same goofy smile stuck on his face. Remus cleared his throat slightly. "Er... I believe we were in the middle of a chocolate frog contest. Peter, you in?"

Peter, it turned out, could stuff a whopping 14 chocolate frogs into his mouth. Not only that, but the boy would try any and every flavor of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. By the time the Hogwarts Express pulled up at the station and they had scrambled into their robes, the four boys had started what they felt was sure to be a very promising friendship.


	2. Friends and Forgetfulness

**Disclaimer**: The characters, the universe, Hogwarts, etc. all belong to JK Rowling. Only the plot is mine.

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><p>Lily stood nervously in the center of the Hogwarts Express corridor, staring at the door Severus had just disappeared into. After Lily and Severus had left the first compartment they had sat in, they had run into a group of boys. They had stared at Lily, giving Severus significant glances. One of them cleared his throat softly. "Er... I'll be right back Lily. I need to do something," Severus had said to her quietly, casting her an apologetic glance as he followed the boys into a compartment down the hall. There was malignant glint in their eyes Lily didn't like.<p>

Now she felt rather awkward, standing like an idiot in the middle of the corridor, all alone. Severus had been gone for a while now. Lily was contemplating knocking on the door of Severus's compartment when something small crashed into her, Lily fell backwards onto the carpeted floor. A dark haired, chubby girl stood up quickly. "I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I was trying to catch the food trolley, and I didn't see you there!" The girl continued apologizing frantically as Lily stood up.

Lily laughed for the first time since getting on the train. "I'm fine. Are you?" she asked the girl.

The girl beamed. "Are you really all right? I'm Alice Fortescue. What house do you want to be in? Gryffindor sounds nice, but I wouldn't mind being a Hufflepuff I guess. I hear their common room is right next to the kitchens!" Alice continued to talk extremely fast, grinning at Lily the entire time.

Lily felt slightly bemused, but grinned back.

"Oh! What's your name, by the way?" Alice said suddenly.

"Lily. Lily Evans," Lily told her, surveying Alice with her green eyes.

"Want to find a compartment, Lily?" Alice asked her, for the first time betraying a hint of anxiety, as if afraid that Lily would reject this request and the underlying beginnings of a friendship.

Lily cast a glance at the compartment that still held Severus. He had been gone for quite some time now. "Yeah," she said to Alice. She rather liked this talkative but evidently very sweet girl.

Alice put her arm through Lily's without hesitation and they walked arm in arm, looking for a compartment, chatting amiably. Lily was content to ask Alice questions and let her do the talking, choosing instead to contentedly enjoy the anticipation of arriving at Hogwarts.

Alice told Lily that her father was the owner of a popular ice cream shop in Diagon Alley. Lily vaguely recalled passing by the shop, but hadn't the time to go inside, or take a closer look, as her own trip to Diagon Alley to buy school books had been rather hurried. Lily's parents, being muggles, had no idea whatsoever how to enter Diagon Alley, and therefore they had to be accompanied by Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. Lily felt a twinge of sadness as she recalled that Petunia, her older sister, had chosen not to come along. Even today, Petunia had rejected Lily and the magical world, calling her a freak and- Lily stopped herself before she could start crying again.

Lily was so wrapped up in her own thoughts, it was with a jolt of surprise that she registered Alice sliding open a compartment door and peering inside. "Mind if we sit here?" Alice asked the two girls who were sitting inside, pulling Lily into the compartment after her.

"Fine with me," said a blonde girl, who was settled comfortably across the seats on one side of the compartment. The other girl in the compartment, brown haired with bright blue eyes, nodded in assent.

Lily sat down quietly next to the brunette. She opened her mouth to ask who they were, but the blonde beat her to it. "I'm Marlene McKinnon. What are your names?"

Lily and Alice introduced themselves. "And you are..." Alice inquired to the brunette.

"Mary MacDonald," the girl seemed nervous and excited, rather like Lily. Lily stood up and walked up to the wide window. She caught sight of the dark mass of the Hogwarts Castle looming in the distance. Her heart quickened with excitement.

As Lily turned back to the other girls, she saw that their faces mirrored her excitement. "Are you all first years too?" She asked.

They nodded. Marlene began swinging her legs with delight. "I can't wait. How do you think they'll sort us into houses?"

Mary tapped her chin thoughtfully. "They say it's some sort of test..."

"A test?" Lily cried. "But I can't do any magic!"

"That's because you are secretly a muggle who murdered the real Lily Evans in order to attend Hogwarts which is why you can do no magic at all!" Marlene exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Lily dramatically and sinking to the floor in a mock faint.

Lily got the impression Marlene was trying to tease her, but also trying to reassure her in her own, gruff way. Mary and Alice giggled at Marlene's dramatics. Lily did her best to maintain a disdainful expression and hold back her own laughter. The others noticed this and cracked up, Marlene literally began rolling on the floor where she lay with laughter. Lily abandoned her pitiful attempt at disdain and joined in.

After several minutes, Lily found that Marlene, Alice and Mary couldn't seem to stop laughing. Annoyed, Lily grabbed a small box labeled 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans' and tipped out what appeared to be an innocent jelly bean. She flicked it at Marlene. The bean flew toward Marlene, disappearing down her mouth, which had been wide open with laughter. Marlene choked, then spit out the bean. "Yuck! That was _earwax _flavored!" Marlene coughed indignantly "Oh it is _so _on,"

Soon the four girls were pelting one another with the jelly beans. Apparently their giggling could be heard in corridor, because a middle aged, rotund man with a remarkable walrus mustache stuck his head into their compartment. "Quiet down, now," he said sternly, but Lily caught a glimpse of the twinkle in his eye. "Say, are those Every Flavor Beans?" The girls nodded.

To their surprise, the man erupted into deep, throaty laughter. "Now that's one I haven't seen yet! I'll be looking forward to seeing the four of you in my classes,"

With that, he withdrew his head from the compartment. They could still hear his laughter as he ambled down the train.

"What," Lily asked, astounded, "Was that?"

"Beats me," Mary said, still staring at the door the man disappeared through.

"Absolutely MAD," Marlene cried happily, "Here I thought we'd get detention at the least, but he starts _laughing_,"

"Completely off his rocker, that one," Alice added, eying one of the Every Flavor Beans that still lay in her hand. Shrugging, she put a red one into her mouth. She sighed with relief. "Strawberry," she said.

"Urgh once I got a vomit flavored one," Mary recalled, wincing at the memory. "It was so gross I actually vomited after I ate it,"

"Ewwwww" the other girls chorused.

"Every Flavor Beans," Lily repeated. "So that means literally _every_ flavor?"

Marlene smacked her forehead with her hand. "Oh sorry Lily I keep forgetting you're muggle born. Yeah, you can anything from bogeys to grass to strawberry and chocolate,"

Lily examined a beige colored bean and tentatively nibbled the end off of it. "Toffee," she said, eating the rest of it.

Suddenly, Lily realized that there was something wrong. She looked around, then it hit her. "The train isn't going anymore!"

Marlene looked out the window and gave a whoop of joy. "We're at Hogwarts!"

The girls gathered at the window, jumping up and down and shouting gleefully.

Suddenly Alice shrieked.

"What is it, Alice?" Lily asked, putting an arm around the girl.

"We- we've forgotten to put on our robes!"

With a jolt Lily realized she was right. The other students now streaming out into the corridor and out of the train were already dressed in their black Hogwarts school robes. Lily was still wearing the ridiculously dressy ruffled green shirt and black skirt her mother had forced her to wear that morning. Alice was also dressed in muggle clothing, but Marlene and Mary were wearing a sort of cross between muggle and wizard clothing, probably a result of coming from all wizard families. The four girls stared at each other in horror.

The train was slowly emptying, and they had no choice but to follow the rest of the students off the train and onto the station platform. Lily made a move to take her trunk with her, but Mary assured her it would be magically transported to their dormitories.

Lily, Marlene, Mary and Alice exited the train feeling somewhat embarrassed. Some of the students stared at them. Others rolled their eyes and kept going toward the school. Lily caught Marlene's eye. Marlene grinned, obviously enjoying the attention they were getting.

Lily, still feeling rather foolish, looked around for Severus. The two of them had worried about and waited for this moment for years. For as long as she had known him, Severus had always been Lily's window the the magical world. Now searching for him in the mass of people, Lily wondered why he wasn't with her. This was a moment they had always planned to share. For a moment she thought she caught a glimpse of his stringy black hair, but it was gone, swallowed up by the crowd. Lily had felt slightly hurt that he had left her to sit with the other boys, but, now turning back to Mary, Marlene, and Alice, she couldn't say she minded very much anymore.

A tall, broad man, most of his face obscured by a thick, dark beard, called out to them, "Firs' years over here! Firs' years this way! This way please!"

The four girls walked towards the man, huge smiles on their faces, clutching each others arms in excitement. Looking back, Lily would never be able to distinguish the exact moment when those three girls became her friends, but somewhere between their meeting and their exit of the train, they had. Side by side, the four friends continued towards the tall man and the beginning of their seven years of Hogwarts.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>: A big thank you to my two wonderful reviewers of Chapter One! As you can see I have decided to alternate views between chapters, with one chapter in James's/Marauders point of view and another in Lily's/her friends point of view. **Any reviews/constructive criticism would be great! (In other words, PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :)**

Mischief Managed! (when it comes to this chapter at least :)

~VictoryNike


	3. The Sorting, Part 1

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters mentioned belong to me. The characters, the Harry Potter Universe, Hogwarts etc. all belong to JK Rowling. Only the plot is mine.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: The Sorting, Part 1<strong>

James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter stood with the other first years at the edge of the Hogwarts lake. The glassy surface of the lake reflected the now dark night sky, sprinkled with stars. At the far side of the lake was the Hogwarts castle, which cast its own reflection onto the peaceful lake.

James felt his breath catch in his throat. He had waited and waited for this moment for his entire life, for as long as he could remember- the next thing James knew, he was falling. Into the lake.

James was surrounded by dark, freezing water. He kicked upward and emerged from the lake, to see Peter was red in the face, trying not to laugh. Finally Peter couldn't take it anymore and exploded into giggles, spraying spit everywhere. Remus was looking pointedly away, as if to distance himself from their antics, and Sirius- _Sirius. _Sirius was doubled up with laughter, having evidently just pushed James into the lake.

If there was one thing James hated, it was being made a fool of. Before Sirius knew it, James had grabbed his foot and pulled him into the water too. "What the-" Sirius began, but then he caught James's eye. Without ever speaking a word, Sirius and James simultaneously got out of the water and advanced toward Remus.

"Hey, HEY! What? No no no don't push me in!" Remus cried as they dunked him in the lake.

Unfortunately, the tall bearded man who had been ushering the other first years toward a small fleet of wooden boats turned in time to see Sirius and James, now joined by a dripping wet Remus, approach Peter to drench him, too. "Stop it, stop that righ' now!"

James and Sirius stepped away from Peter, who was cowering behind the man's back, but stared back at the man defiantly. Remus hung his head timidly.

"Looks like we got ourselves a pair of righ' troublemakers this year," the man said, eying James and Sirius as he guided Peter, Remus, Sirius, and James into a boat. "Don't try anything funny, yeh lot," he said, looking suspiciously at their boat.

James and Sirius only had to look at each other before bursting into raucous laughter. Remus reluctantly joined in. Peter breathed a sigh of relief, obviously glad he was still dry.

With a slight jolt, the boats began gliding through the dark water toward the castle. The boys became suddenly quiet, gazing at the the school, their wide eyes reflecting the light streaming from the windows.

The boats stopped as suddenly as they had started. The large man got out of his boat and beckoned to them. The first years stepped off of the boats, following the man up to the castle door. Only now, standing at the foot of the school, did James truly appreciate how massive the castle was. He felt especially tiny as he strained his neck to see the highest point of the castle, the Gryffindor tower. James crossed his fingers in his pocket, hoping that he would be sleeping comfortably there that night. _Boom Boom Boom._

Three loud noises jolted James from his thoughts. The large man was knocking with his huge fist on the door of the castle. It swung noiselessly inward. The man motioned for them to enter after him.

They filed into a small room. A tall woman with a severe face and brown hair pulled back into a bun received them there. "Thank you, Hagrid," she addressed the tall bearded man.

"No problem, Professor," he said, opening the large doors on one side of the room and slipping inside. The students craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the hall on the other side of the door. James caught sight of a deep blue ceiling sprinkled with stars that mimicked the night sky outside.

For the first time, James wondered how exactly they would be sorted into houses that night. He supposed it would be some kind of test. He had begged his father to tell him how, but his father had simply smiled secretively and kept silent. Apparently, it was a tradition not to tell the younger students how they were sorted. James voiced his concern to Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. "Believe me, if it were really hard, some of my cousins would all be in Hufflepuff. Bellatrix is in Slytherin just like everyone else in my family, and she's couldn't tell a flobberworm from her own wand,"

James laughed, although he was still somewhat nervous about his sorting. What if he ended up in Slytherin? His dad would pretend he was proud, but deep down, James knew his dad would be disappointed in him.

"Actually," Sirius continued, "the bloke she's dating, Rudolphus or something like that, looks a lot like a flobberworm, and he's about as bright, too."

"Sounds like a good match, then," Remus said, grinning through his own evident nervousness. "No offense," he added as an afterthought.

Sirius nodded in agreement, apparently at ease. James envied his easy nonchalance. He quickly arranged his own features into an expression of boredom and indifference. A hush spread suddenly over the students. The severe looking woman was speaking.

James turned toward her. "I am Professor McGonagall and I will be your transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. In a moment, you will be sorted into your house. While you are at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. If you do well, you will earn house points. Any misconduct will result in the removal of house points. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house you are sorted into,"

With those words, she waved her wand at the large double doors that Hagrid had just disappeared through, and they swung open. The first years lined up down the center of a long aisle that ran in the center of the hall. To either side of them were two long tables that ran almost the length of the hall, lined with students. At the front of the hall, in front of a set of long, floor to ceiling windows was an elevated table at which the staff were seated. Laying on a stool in front of the staff table and looking quite out of place was an old, ripped wizard's hat with a pointed tip.

Although he had grown up in a wizarding family, James was still extremely surprised when the sorting hat opened the rip on it's brim like a mouth and broke into song. James was so shocked he barely heard the song at at all. He caught something about the values of the four houses, and something else. A warning?

As it finished it's little rhyme, the hat closed it's mouth and lay there, waiting. James stared at it. "When I call your name, you will sit on the stool and I will place the hat on your head. You will then be sorted into a house," Then Professor McGonagall called out a name from the scroll of paper held in her hand. "Avery, Brian!"

A brown haired boy stepped forward from the crowd of first years. He sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head. "SLYTHERIN!" It called out after a few moments on his head.

James nearly laughed out loud in relief. Here he had been worrying about the sorting when all they had to do was put on a _hat_?

A few more students were sorted before "Black, Sirius!"

Sirius walked up to hat, seemingly at ease, but James thought he glimpsed Sirius's eyebrows knit together in worry before the sorting hat slipped over his head.

James's fingers were starting go numb because he had crossed them so tightly in his pocket, praying that Sirius would be sorted into Gryffindor. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the Sorting Hat.

Sirius exhaled, then waved arrogantly at a heavy lidded girl at the Slytherin table before walking jauntily off to join the Gryffindors at the other side of the hall. James thought he saw a slight resemblance between Sirius and the girl, who looked extremely angry, but was too worried about his own sorting to care much.

James distractedly watched some more people get sorted, wondering where himself, Remus, and Peter were headed. Unexpectedly, he saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. It was the girl from the train, the one who was crying in the corner of the compartment. "Evans, Lily!" Professor McGonagall said, and the red headed girl walked up to the stool. James noticed she hadn't changed into her school uniform. Neither had any of her friends. James scowled irritatedly. Why he think of that? It would have made for a spectacular entrance, showing up in their regular clothing, setting themselves apart from others. The sorting hat barely touched the girl's red curls before it thundered: "GRYFFINDOR!"

James felt an enormous twinge of annoyance. This girl was evidently too scared to even leave her mummy and come to Hogwarts. She was _crying_ on the train. How could she be a _Gryffindor_, who were supposed to be brave? The girl smiled sadly at someone in the crowd and walked to the Gryffindor table.

A few more sortings. Then Remus was sorted into Gryffindor, as well. James gave him a thumbs up as he headed to the Gryffindor table.

"Mac Donald"..."McKinnon"... "McLaggen"... "Lockhart"...

"Pettigrew, Peter!" Professor McGonagall cried, not long afterward. James felt his stomach tighten. He would be called soon, if not next.

"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the Sorting Hat once more, and Peter walked to the Gryffindor table, a broad smile on his face.

"Potter, James!" Professor McGonagall said at last, and James walked up the steps to where the stool was situated next to the staff table. He sat on the stool, his heart pounding. He felt a light weight on his head as Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head.

_Ah. _said the hat, in a tiny voice in his ear. _I see exactly where you're going to go. It's all in your head, you know,_

_I've always known where I'm headed. And I'll probably quit school if you send me anywhere but Gryffindor, _James thought stubbornly.

_Prideful, and determined as well, hmm? Loyalty, and a sense of duty... there's no place else for you but... _"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed aloud.

James felt the hat slide off his head and he stood, feeling immensely relieved and satisfied. He sensed that he had an embarrassingly goofy smile on his face, but for once, he didn't care. He nearly skipped to the table on the far side of the hall that had erupted in applause. Was it just him, or was the applause louder than it had been for anybody else? James sat next to Sirius, and the two boys exchanged a round of high fives with each other, Remus, and Peter. James noticed that the redhead, Evans or something like that, on the other side of Sirius, but ignored her completely.

The rest of that evening was a blur. The last few students were sorted. James vaguely recalled that greasy jerk- Snivellus being sorted into Slytherin. James caught Sirius's eye at this and they exchanged disgusted looks. Sirius seemed rather happy to have been sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. After the sorting ended, the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore stood up and said a few words. Dumbledore was a tall man with a long white beard and twinkling blue eyes behind half moon glasses. Something about him commanded respect and trust, but James wasn't sure what. James tried to pay attention because his dad had always held Dumbledore in high esteem, but when the headmaster began speaking about rules, James found his thoughts drifting. James had always found rules to be constraining and ridiculous. He even made a point of breaking them, just for kicks.

James's thoughts turned to food. He hadn't eaten since the chocolate frogs on the train, and that seemed like ages ago. His stomach growled. He looked up at Dumbledore, wondering when the old man would cut the chatter and get to the food. "Tuck in!" Dumbledore said, with a small smile.

James stared at him. Where was the food? How could he tuck in when there _was no food_? Then, an appetizing aroma reached James's nose. He looked down at the table, and found the previously empty golden dishes filled with food. James helped himself to a bit of everything and had nearly inhaled half the Yorkshire Pudding before looking up to find Peter stuffing his face with bacon.

"Wow, Peter," said Remus, through a mouthful of potato. "Just when I thought it wasn't humanly possible to eat any more after the forty-something chocolate frogs you ate,"

"Yeah, and he ate half my licorice wands, too" James added,

"And some of Malfoy's pumpkin pasties, oh wait, you didn't actually take those, right?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

Peter just shrugged and reached for the gravy boat and began literally eating straight out of the it with a spoon. He mumbled something unintelligible with a full mouth. James returned to his eating. Just when he thought he couldn't hold another bite, the food melted away and was replaced by every desert imaginable. Then again, maybe he could force down a bite or two. Between James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, they must have polished off at least three tarts and a dish of ice cream, besides.

When the last bits of dessert melted of the golden platters, Professor Dumbledore stood up. Now that his stomach was full, James actually paid attention to what he said. "Now that your stomachs are full and your minds are empty, enjoy a good night's sleep, there's an entire term in front of you to fill up your minds once more. Prefects, please lead the first years to your dormitories," there was some good natured groaning at the mention of learning, but everyone rose to trudge up to their dormitories and the cozy beds that awaited them.

"First year Gryffindors, this way!" cried a tall boy with straw colored hair. James and the other first years followed him out of the hall.

"I'm Sturgis Podmore," said the boy with an easy grin. "Welcome to Gryffindor, the best house in the school!"

James cheered wildly at this pronouncement, however, a curly haired prefect from Ravenclaw that happened to pass by made a disparaging noise.

"You _wish_ you were in Gryffindor!" Sturgis shouted as she left.

The other Gryffindor prefect, Emmeline Vance, rolled her eyes and said, "C'mon Sturgis. We can show _her _what Gryffindor is all about on the Quidditch pitch,"

Sturgis smiled. "Yeah! To the Gryffindor Tower!" he cried dramatically.

He led them up a few flights of stairs to the seventh floor. He stopped in front of a portrait of a rather fat lady in a frilly pink dress. "Password?" she asked, spreading her arms regally.

"Juggernaut," Emmeline said, and the portrait swung forward, revealing a hole in the wall, just the size to climb through. The first years scrambled through the portrait hole, following the prefects. They emerged into a large, cozy room hung with red and gold Gryffindor banners. There were numerous couches, armchairs, and study tables arranged around a fireplace in which a fire burned cheerfully.

Emmeline indicated two staircases at the far end of the room, opposite the fireplace. "Those are your dormitories. Girls on the left, boys are on the right. Your trunks and other belongings should already be up there. Good night!" she said.

James didn't need to be told twice. He climbed the staircase which rose upward in spirals until he reached the very top and found the door marked 'First Years'. James reached for the knob and opened the door. Inside he found five four poster beds arranged in a circle around a stove in the center of the room. He found his trunk beside a bed next to the window. Perfect. He flopped down on the bed comfortably. Remus, Sirius, Peter, and another boy stampeded into the room.

"Wow," exclaimed Sirius, diving onto the bed next to James's. "I could get used to this,"

"Exactly what I was thinking," James said happily.

"Who're you?" Remus asked the round faced boy who had followed them into their dormitory.

"Hi, I'm Frank Longbottom," the boy seemed slightly nervous as he looked around. "Who are you?"

James, Remus, and Peter introduced themselves. Sirius did not respond except to snore loudly. He was already fast asleep, still in his robes. James laughed. He pulled on his pajamas and climbed into bed, pulling the curtains of his bed around him. He leaned his head on his hands and stared at the canopy of his four poster, his mind going over the wonderful events of the day. He sighed contentedly, rolled over, and fell fast asleep.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or added Mischief Managed to their alerts! PLEASE REVIEW! Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated. ALSO: I WOULD REALLY REALLY LIKE A BETA FOR THIS STORY. PLEASE SEE MY PROFILE FOR MORE DETAILS! 

~VictoryNike


	4. The Sorting, Part 2

**Disclaimer**: Everything but the plot belongs to JK Rowling.

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><p>Staring across the quiet lake to the majestic castle sprawled impressively on the other side of the water, Lily felt the doubt she had been holding back for the past few weeks explode in her stomach. What if there wasn't really any magic? What if everything was just some sort of enormous practical joke? What if it really was a magic school and she failed everything? What if they decided she was really a muggle and sent her back?<p>

Lily felt a light touch on her shoulder. She turned to find Severus's black eyes staring into her own. "Is it really real, Sev? You're not kidding about magic?" as soon as she asked the question that was eating away at her insides she felt stupid. But she needed to know.

"It's real. Every bit of it. I've never lied to you, Lily,"

Lily smiled slightly, feeling somewhat reassured.

Just then, a loud splash came from the far side of the group of first years gathered at the edge of the lake. Lily craned her neck to see what had happened. Two more splashes followed the first. Lily caught sight of three dripping wet boys pursuing a fourth, rather pudgy boy. Lily started to laugh, then recognized two of the wet boys as the boys from the first train compartment and stopped laughing instantly. Severus narrowed his eyes in dislike.

"Look at them. They think they're so great," Severus muttered, looking at the boys with contempt as the large man interfered in their rough-housing and scolded them. James and Sirius's faces showed no hint of shame, but only defiance as they stared up into the man's face.

The man guided James, Sirius and two other boys into one of the dozen or so wooden boats floating on the lake, then turned to the rest of them. "Four teh' a boat, an' don' let me see no more of yeh' wet. The gian' squid's tryin' ter take a nap and students in his lake are gonna wake 'im up."

"The giant squid?" Lily echoed, awed, as an oversized tentacle surfaced from the water and waved lazily.

The first years were now moving towards the boats. Lily made to join Severus in a boat, but she noticed Marlene, Mary and Alice waiting for her, and the boys Severus had left with earlier were casting him meaningful glances. Severus hesitated. "Go ahead and sit with them," Lily said, indicating the boys, "I don't mind,"

Lily joined Marlene, Mary and Alice. As she boarded the boat, she thought she glimpsed a longing glimmer in Severus's eye, but when she turned to get a closer look at Severus, it was gone. There was a slight jolt, and boats began moving easily across the glassy water.

"Who's he?" Mary asked Lily, indicating Severus.

"My friend," Lily answered simply. "We live in the same area. We're neighbors of sorts, I guess."

Mary nodded, and the girls turned their attention and thoughts to the castle they were gliding towards. The boats reached the opposite shore and stopped, allowing their occupants to disembark and gather behind the huge man at the castle door. Up until now, the first years had been chattering excitedly, now they fell silent in collective awe. The castle was even more impressive up close. It's many towers and turrets stood tall and strong against the night sky. Light glowed from some of the numerous windows. The large man raised a giant fist and knocked thrice on the castle doors. They swung open, revealing a small room, an entrance hall. To the right, a grand staircase curled upward to the innumerable floors above. To the left was another tall set of double doors. The students filed into the room and were greeted by a tall witch in green robes. She had a stern sort of face, with a thin mouth and green eyes. He brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her head and topped with a pointed witch's hat. "Thank you, Hagrid," she said to the large man who had brought them there.

"No problem, Professor," he replied, pushing open one of the large double doors and slipping through. Because of his large breadth, the students were able to catch a glimpse of the hall on the other side before the doors fell shut again. Lily saw that the room appeared to be roofless. The ceiling seemed to be exactly like the clear night sky outside, sprinkled with stars. Candles hung unsupported in midair to light the hall. Lily's doubts about magic cleared. If there was no magic, there certainly couldn't be candles that hung in midair, nor boats that crossed lakes without oars. She smiled widely.

The woman began to speak, "I am Professor McGonagall and I will be your transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. In a moment, you will be sorted into your house. While you are at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. If you do well, you will earn house points. Any misconduct will result in the removal of house points. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house you are sorted into," With that, Professor McGonagall waved her wand toward the double doors and they swung noiselessly open.

Alice was now clutching Lily's arm so hard Lily was losing all feeling in her fingers. "Lily... how do they sort us? My dad said it was a tradition not to tell the younger students!" Alice hissed worriedly in Lily's ear.

Lily felt herself starting to become extremely worried again, but then she remembered Marlene's theatrics on the train and let out a small giggle instead. The first years lined up down the center of a long aisle in the center of the hall. There were four tables that ran the length of the hall, two on each side of the center aisle. Each was lined with students in Hogwarts robes and pointed hats. In front of four long floor to ceiling windows was a table at which several adults were seated. Lily noticed the rotund man who had interrupted their jelly bean fight on the train among them. While the other teachers and students had nothing but empty golden plates in front of them, the rotund man was already digging into a large box of what appeared to be crystallized pineapple.

"How come he's already got food?" Mary asked, indicating the rotund man. "I'm already starving,"

"Well obviously, he's got to keep up his shape you know," Marlene said. The other girls smothered their laughter.

"Marlene! He's a teacher!" Lily said, half-heartedly.

Suddenly, the hall fell silent as someone began to sing. Lily stood on her toes to see who was singing. It seemed to be coming from an old hat that was balanced on it's brim on a stool.

_Back when I was brand new, _

_There lived four founders, you see,_

_Each had different values,_

_They valued most; they simply couldn't agree!_

_So each formed their own house,_

_To pick the values they preferred_

_So put me on your head and I'll tell you,_

_Where you ought to go without saying a word!_

_Be it Gryffindor, where the brave ones dwell,_

_Full of courage, and loyalty,_

_Or Ravenclaw where the clever abide,_

_With sharp wit and academic ability!_

_Be it Hufflepuff where the good shall roam,_

_Kindly and helpful to all,_

_Or Slytherin where the cunning are,_

_and only the shrewd can answer the call!_

_So to each of you,_

_I wish you the best,_

_Come forward and put,_

_Yourselves to the test!_

The hat closed it's mouth and sat there, waiting.

"When I call your name, you will sit on the stool and I will place the hat on your head. You will then be sorted into a house," Professor McGonagall said loudly to the group, then began calling out names from a roll of parchment in her hand.

"Avery, Brian!" A brown haired boy Lily recognized as one Severus's friends stepped forward and sat on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat onto his head. After a few moments, the hat called out "SLYTHERIN!" opening a rip on it's brim like a mouth.

"So all we've got to do..." Lily said, shocked and relieved.

"Is put on a hat!" Marlene finished for Lily, laughing in relief.

Lily waited with bated breath through the sorting of a set of students, including one of the boys from the train compartment, Sirius, who was sorted into Gryffindor. He waved at someone at the table at the far side of the hall before joining his housemates, who were clapping loudly, at the Gryffindor table.

Finally, Professor McGonagall called out, "Evans, Lily!"

Lily was so nervous she felt glued to her spot and began moving forward only when her friends nudged her forward, wishing her luck. Lily walked numbly toward the stool, feeling extremely conscious of her uniform violation as she felt the eyes of the entire hall on her. She sat, trembling on the stool. She locked eyes with Severus and held his gaze until the brim of the hat obscured her vision.

_You're an easy one to sort, _said a small voice in her ear. Lily nearly jumped in surprise. _Courage, Bravery, Loyalty... it's pretty obvious. _

Lily tried to tell the hat the truth._ But I'm not any of those things! You don't understand I'm just-_

_You want to be in Slytherin, eh? Well that's not the place for you._

_But- _Lily thought

_The only place for you is..._

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat thundered, and the table on the left exploded in applause. Lily's eyes found Severus's face and she smiled sadly at him before walking to the table to join her housemates.

Marlene was cheering, Alice grinned at her, and Mary flashed her a thumbs up from where they stood waiting to be sorted before Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table amid pats on the back and congratulations from her housemates, people she didn't even know. She sat down at an empty spot on the bench. She turned to see who the person next to her was, but then she realized it was Sirius Black, and turned firmly away from him. Moments later, she was joined by Alice, who sat beside her and proceeded to give her a rapid ongoing commentary about the students being sorted that Lily only half listened to.

Lily felt dazed throughout the rest of the sortings. She had wanted to tell the Sorting Hat the truth, that she was really just a normal girl with no bravery or courage to speak of. Lily would have liked to say that she was loyal, but her loyalty to anything or anyone had never been tested. The Sorting Hat had told her Gryffindor was the only place for her. Inexplicably, Lily had to admit that she had been drawn to Gryffindor house the way the Hat described it. In an odd way, she felt like she was betraying Severus, by being sorted into Gryffindor when they had always dreamed of being in Slytherin together.

Alice gasped suddenly. "Oooh look! Mary's being sorted now! I wonder where she'll go? She just has to be a Gryffindor! She'd be a horrible Hufflepuff... she's not nearly calm enough. Slytherin? Nah..."

Lily crossed her fingers. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed.

Mary smiled as she hurried to their table. Alice scooted closer to Lily and patted the seat on the other side of her.

A tall, lanky boy whom Lily had never seen before called to her from the other side of the table. "No uniform? Nice! I haven't seen a first year who had the nerve to do that yet!". He leaned forward to grab a gravy boat and Lily saw that a shiny Prefect badge gleamed on his chest.

"Guess you just met three of them, then, haven't you?" Lily said, grinning, gesturing to herself, Alice and Mary. "Oh, and another over there," she pointed to Marlene, who was being sorted.

The boy beamed. "Guess I have. Welcome to Gryffindor, by the way," he said, before turning to chat with the curly haired girl who was sitting next to him.

"Looks like Marlene made it to Gryffindor, too!" Mary said.

Sure enough, the Gryffindor table had erupted into applause as Marlene headed towards them. Lily scooted down the bench to make room for her.

Marlene plopped down on the bench. "I'm hungry." she announced. "Where's the food?"

Lily looked around. There were golden plates and cutlery in front of every person, but they were all empty. There wasn't any food whatsoever. Lily's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten anything but candy and was hoping for some real food.

Thankfully, the sorting appeared to have ended. The line of students in front of the hat had disappeared and Professor McGonagall was now seated at the staff table. Lily looked down the table toward a tall, bearded man who had stood up. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a messy haired head. With a jolt, she realized it was James Potter. Sitting at the Gryffindor table. Great. Now she was in the same house as that jerk. Lily did not expect this at all.

There was a tinkling sound as the man up front tapped his spoon against his goblet. The hall fell silent. The man was tall, with long silver hair and beard. He wore an impressive set of robes, midnight blue and spangled with silver stars. Lily felt instantly awed and intrigued by this man. "He's the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. Daddy told me about him." Alice breathed in her ear.

"To our new students, welcome to Hogwarts. It is my hope that you enjoy your seven years here and make something of yourselves." Dumbledore spoke in a resounding voice. "To our returning students, welcome back. As always, I would like to inform you that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds and no students are to go there. In addition, this year stricter curfews will be enforced in order to ensure student safety," The was some audible groans across the hall. James Potter and his friends were blatantly ignoring the headmaster. "All students must be in their common rooms by nine o' clock in the evenings. Any students caught out of their common rooms after that time will be punished."

Dumbledore smiled. "Tuck in!" he said, and sat down.

Food appeared on huge platters down the center of the table. Lily gasped, then filled her plate and started to eat. She felt a little homesick when she caught sight of the bacon, browned so perfectly, the color her dad could never get right, but helped herself to some of it, anyway. After everyone had eaten their fill of gravy, bacon, Yorkshire pudding, and roast beef, the food disappeared and was replaced with every kind of pudding, cake and pie imaginable. Lily groaned and reached for the treacle tart. When Lily truly couldn't eat any more, the desserts melted away into thin air again, and Lily leaned back contentedly.

Professor Dumbledore stood up once more. "Now that your stomachs are full and your minds are empty, enjoy a good night's sleep. There's an entire term in front of you to fill your minds up once more. Prefects, please lead the first years to your dormitories."

Lily stood, and a great feeling of drowsiness fell over her, the kind that comes only after you've had a good meal and you've got something good to look forward to the next day.

"First year Gryffindors, this way!" cried the tall lanky boy who had teased Lily about her uniform violation earlier.

"I'm Sturgis Podmore," the boy said, shaking his straw colored hair out of his eyes and smiling. "Welcome to Gryffindor, the best house in the school!"

Sturgis's declaration was met with loud cheering from the first years, until a Ravenclaw prefect coughed rather mockingly.

"You _wish_ you were in Gryffindor!" Sturgis shouted at her retreating back.

The other Gryffindor prefect, who had long brown hair, rolled her eyes. "C'mon Sturgis. We can show her what Gryffindor is all about on the Quidditch pitch."

"Yeah! To the Gryffindor Tower!" Sturgis exclaimed, enthused once more.

"Dramatic, much?" Mary said under her breath.

They climbed up the spiral staircase that led up who-knew-how-many floors until they arrived at a landing.

"It's the seventh floor. I counted." Alice whispered.

Lily was too busy gawking to respond to her. There were many, many staircases that were moving constantly, switching from landing to landing. Pearly ghosts drifted about. One waved to her. "New Gryffindors? Congratulations! My old house, you know." he said smiling, before floating away.

Lily turned and saw that the walls were covered with portraits. She approached one that appeared to be a tea party, only no one was in it. She peered at it curiously. The table was set for seven, with tea, scones, the whole works. Suddenly, a short man with a rough looking face walked into the portrait and helped himself to a scone.

Lily jumped, startled. The gnome smiled. "'Ello there."

"Hi." Lily said, smiling hesitantly. Portraits that moved! Was there no end to the amazing surprises of the wizarding world? Would she ever truly fit in? "Sorry I've just never seen a moving portrait before. Pardon, but unless I'm mistaken, you don't exactly belong in this portrait, do you?"

"No, miss, I don't. But portraits at Hogwarts are free to move around and visit as we please, you see?" he said in a gravelly voice.

"Lily!" Alice called. Lily looked up to see that the rest of the Gryffindor first year group was already several feet ahead of her.

"Nice to meet you." she said to the gnome, remembering her manners. The gnome waved as she ran to catch up to her friends.

The group stopped at a portrait of a rather large woman in a frilly pink dress. She spread her arms regally.

"Password?" she asked.

"Juggernaut." said the girl prefect, whom Lily vaguely remembered telling them her name was Emmeline.

The portrait swung forward, revealing a round hole in the wall. Emmeline crawled through and motioned for them to follow her. The portrait hole opened into a circular room hung with red and gold hangings and dotted with comfy couches, armchairs, and study tables. A fire crackled cheerfully in the fireplace.

Emmeline pointed out two staircases at the far end of the room. "Those are your dormitories. Girls on the left, boys on the right. Your trunks and belongings should be already up there. Good night!"

While most of the first year group hurried toward the staircases, Lily stayed where she was. In a strange way, she was afraid to go to sleep. Afraid that when she woke up, everything- Hogwarts, magic, her being a witch- all of it would be just a dream.

"Honestly, Lily why do you keep lagging behind?" Marlene yelled from the foot of the stairs.

"Yeah, she was fast enough when she was attacking that treacle tart." Mary said.

"I'm coming!" Lily said, mentally reprimanding herself. _Even if it is all a dream, it was a very good one while it lasted. Besides, if all of it _is _a dream, then maybe Tuney won't be mad and you anymore. _

Feeling significantly more cheerful, Lily ascended the stairs to their common room. It wasn't until they had reached the very top did they find a door marked 'First Years'. Alice pushed the door open. They found a round room with five four poster beds arranged around a stove. The girls raced to claim beds. Lily flung herself a bed close to a window, perfectly positioned so that a shaft of moonlight fell on her pillow. It was perfect. Her trunk was already beside her bed. Lily sighed with joy and anticipation. _A very nice dream indeed. _Before she knew it, Lily _was_ dreaming, fast asleep.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Sorry for the huge delay in updating a legit chapter! However, I think it's the longest one I've ever written, so that's good. Also, I would like to address a review I got for my last chapter, stating that my chapters so far lacked have lacked flair. I have to agree with you. These first four chapters have definitely been filler chapters and I agree that they are pretty boring. Hopefully I'm done with filler chapters now and I can get on to some actually interesting chapters ;) I appreciate all those reviews! Especially the one with constructive criticism :)

This chapter...blahhh. The song sucks, I know. :P I think I might actually change my POV pattern and do another chapter in Lily's POV. Also, it totally just broke my heart to write Snape saying "I've never lied to you, Lily" 'cause he totally has. Sorry. Random outburst there.

Oh, and read my two one shots that I've been writing instead of updating this story like I should have been! :) And answer my poll on my profile! Please!

Now that I've bored you all to tears with my long author's note, REVIEW!

~VictoryNike


	5. Transfiguration and Teddy Bears

**Disclaimer: **Everything but the plot belongs to JK Rowling.

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Transfiguration and Teddy Bears<strong>

"What the hell are you doing?" James called sleepily to Sirius. Immediately after he had woken up, James had spotted Sirius appearing to go into convulsions beside Peter's bed. Was he having a seizure or something?

Silently, Sirius motioned for James to come closer. James fumbled for his glasses, put them on, and padded quietly to where Peter slept peacefully. James examined Sirius, concerned. Apparently Sirius wasn't having a seizure. He was shaking with silent laughter.

Clutched in Peter's hands was a fluffy pink teddy bear. Peter puckered his lips in his sleep and pulled the teddy bear closer to him, so their faces were pressed together. "Is he... _snogging_ it?" Sirius whispered.

It was too much for James. He burst out laughing, waking the others. Peter sat up so quickly he fell out of bed, still hugging the teddy bear to his chest.

"Is that... a teddy bear, Peter?" Remus asked incredulously.

"Yes it is. And wait till you hear he was doing with it!" James choked.

"Whassgoinon?" Frank muttered disorientedly.

"Peter was snogging his teddy bear!" Sirius yelled, gleefully.

"No way!" Frank said, laughing.

"Was not!" Peter cried.

"Yeah? Then why is their drool all over your teddy bear's mouth?" James challenged.

"Er...it's not a teddy bear!"

"Sure it isn't," Remus said sarcastically.

"It's for medical purposes!" Peter protested, blushing. "For my asthma. There's an inhaler inside the teddy's mouth, and-"

"Merlin, Pete, stop digging yourself in deeper." Remus said, getting up from his bed. "Inhalers are muggle medicine. Didn't you tell us on the train that both your parents are magical?"

Peter squirmed uncomfortably, shoving his teddy bear under his blankets.

Sirius smirked. "I don't even want to know what he was dreaming about."

Frank sniggered.

"Shut up." Peter said, blushing even deeper than before.

"Don't worry, mate. We won't tell. Probably." Sirius told him, still grinning.

Suddenly, Remus swore, then scrambled over his bed to get his robes.

"Somebody needs to wash their mouth out with soap." Sirius commented.

"It's ten minutes to 9 o'clock! Classes start in ten minutes and we haven't even got our timetables yet!" Remus yelled frantically, trying to pull his robes on over his head.

"Does that mean we've missed breakfast?" James asked, voicing the question that was foremost the minds of everyone but Remus.

The boys pulled their uniforms on at top speed and stormed down the stairs and into the Great Hall in record speed.

James hurriedly shoveled some porridge into his mouth. The Great Hall was nearly empty. He looked up suddenly to find himself under the watchful gaze of the headmaster's twinkling blue eyes.

"Minerva, it appears that our Gryffindor first years have arrived." Professor Dumbledore said to an irate looking Professor McGonagall.

"Boys, I'll have you know that first impressions are extremely important, and by the looks of things, you haven't made a very good one." she told them sternly, handing out their timetables.

"Your first class of the day is Transfiguration. Follow me." she added.

The boys exchanged worried looks. Was she punishing them for being late? Where were they going?

Professor McGonagall led them up a staircase. "Watch that step, please."

Peter, who was staring absently at one of the portraits, didn't hear her and trod on the step. Instantly, his foot sank in up to his knee. James and Sirius each took him by an arm and pulled him out. James made a mental note to always skip that step.

They walked down a corridor to a classroom at the far end of it. She opened the door to reveal the rest of their year, sitting quietly at their desks.

Professor McGonagall strode to the front of the classroom. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter quickly found seats in the back of the room. James relaxed. McGonagall hadn't been punishing them, only taking them to their next class.

Professor McGonagall began her lecture "Transfiguration, you'll find, is among the most straightforward branches of magic, but also among the most difficult. However, if you can excel, the possibilities are endless." With that, she promptly turned into a tabby cat.

Sirius let out a low whistle. "She doesn't mince words, does she?"

James was awed. His transfiguration teacher was an animagus. Supposedly one of the most difficult magical feats to achieve. Professor McGonagall smoothly turned back into a human. The class burst into applause.

"Since your magical abilities are yet to be refined to the level of being able to attempt animal transformation, we will begin with simpler objects." she continued as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

She proceeded to explain to them the basics of Transfiguring an object and handing them all matches, instructing them to Transfigure them into needles.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Sorry for the super short chapter, but (as of now) the plot requires a switch to Lily's POV very soon. I probably will change the idea I have in mind, but for now, here is the chapter! Also, this week I'll try to update more often :) Try to review and let me know if you prefer long chapters updated less often or shorter chapters updated more frequently, okay?

I tried to work on the whole uniqueness thing, because I know there are loads of stories like this out there. Anyway, let me know how it is so far. Oh, and a fun fact: Mischief Managed has received over 500 hits! (*nonexistent audience claps sarcastically*) well... it matters to me! So yay! Major milestone! :D

As usual: review review review! PLEASE. AND SOMEBODY PLEASE ANSWER MY FREAKING POLL. Because I have no idea what to do with my stupid little trick chapter. (*audience rolls eyes*) Just answer my poll, please? :)

Dang my author's notes are getting extremely long nowadays. And this is super hypocritical of me because I rarely read long author's notes unless I really really love the story. Sigh.

~VictoryNike


	6. The First Lesson

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. I own nothing but the plot.

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><p>Lily opened her eyes blearily. She stared at the red velvet canopy over her head, wondering why she wasn't seeing the familiar yellow ceilings of her house in Cokeworth. It came rushing back to her in a flood of memories. <em>Tuney. Freak. Severus. Train. Alice. Marlene. Mary. Sorting Hat. Gryffindor. Hogwarts. Magic. <em>It wasn't a dream! She was so thrilled she actually got up and twirled around the dorm. She stopped when she heard a snicker from the corner. When she scanned the room to figure out who had seen her, they all appeared to be asleep. So Lily took it upon herself to wake them all up. With a pillow. This resulted in the first ever All-Dorm Pillow Fight, which lasted about five minutes until an older girl opened the door and yelled at them for disrupting the quiet with their giggling.

After getting dressed and filling their bookbags with their new textbooks, ink, and quills, the girls headed down to breakfast, where they were given their timetables. Lily looked down at hers and found that her first class was Transfiguration. Fortunately, Lily and her friends were spared the trouble of finding their way to the Transfiguration classroom by Sturgis Podmore, who kindly volunteered to lead the first years to their first class.

Professor McGonagall earned Lily's respect and awe by turning into a tabby cat and back without batting an eyelash. Professor McGonagall explained the basics of Transfiguration and passed out matches to everyone in the class.

Biting her lip, Lily gripped the smooth wood handle of her wand. The match she was supposed to turn into a needle lay innocently on the tabletop. She held her wand over the match and willed it to turn into a needle. It didn't.

All around the classroom, students were waving their wands over their needles. A Ravenclaw had somehow managed to give himself feathers. Another student had accidentally poked the girl next to her in the eye with her wand, and was now frantically trying to see if she was all right. In the midst of all this chaos, James Potter, grinning triumphantly, held up a pointy silver needle that flashed in the light.

Professor McGonagall set off a loud bang with her wand. The class instantly quieted. "Silence! Miss Jones, please escort Miss Meadowes to the hospital wing so that Madam Pomfrey can have a look at her eye. What spell did you use, Mr. Fenwick? This is _Transfiguration_, not Charms." she fixed the Fenwick boy with a stern glance. She pointed her wand at the boy. Lily held her breath, thinking that Professor McGonagall might be punishing him for casting the wrong spell. There was another loud bang and when the cloud of magenta smoke cleared, the Fenwick boy was magically returned to normal.

Professor McGonagall swept her beady gaze around the room and landed it on James Potter, who was making a great show of shoving his Transfigured match into the faces of those of his friends. "Excellent work, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said, smiling at him. _Smiling_ at him. Throughout the feast yesterday, and all of class today, Lily hadn't seen Professor McGonagall smile at any student once.

Potter was grinning arrogantly, and made a big show of pricking himself "accidentally". Lily felt anger boiling in the pit of her stomach. She was not going to sit here with a match while this jerk waved around a needle. Gritting her teeth, she tried again. And again. And again. The match was still resolutely a match.

She looked up again. A few more students had managed to transform their matches into needles. Potter was lazily flicking his wand, turning it back into a match and into a needle again. Stupid showoff. He wandered over a few tables, loudly critiquing the other students on their Transfiguration.

Now more than a little annoyed, Lily bent over the needle and once more attempted to make it pointy and reflective. "You've got the wand movement all wrong, and you aren't even holding your wand properly. Blimey, how did you even get into this place?" A voice drawled in her ear. She looked up to find the bespectacled face of James Potter, criticizing her wandwork as if he was the teacher.

This was the last straw. Lily opened her mouth to retaliate, but he simply shook his head patronizingly and moved on to the next person who was doing something "wrong" before she could say anything.

Lily just sat there and stewed in her frustration and fury. The jerk had the audacity to question her right to attend Hogwarts! Worst of all, he was probably right. She couldn't even turn a match into a needle. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw something. It was the sun glinting off the mirror-like surface of James Potter's needle. It was almost as if it was winking at her. As if they shared a secret. A secret, like a little trick they were about to play on James Potter.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> First of all, **THANK YOU SO MUCH RAVENTONGUE!** You did a fantastic job of betaing this chapter!

Super short, I know, but I just wanted to post something :P I'm not really satisfied with the first three or so paragraphs...but oh well. I'll probably rework it eventually. In case anyone was wondering why Lily's chapters are generally more detailed than those in James's POV, it's because Lily notices more things (it's just her personality the way I imagine her) and also to keep the chapters more interesting and less repetitive (although so far the chapters have been repetitive, I admit)

What do you think? REVIEW AND TELL ME! :D

~VictoryNike


	7. In Trouble Already

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot. The characters, setting, etc., all belong to JK Rowling.

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><p><span>Chapter 7: In Trouble Already<span>

"Bit slow, aren't you?" James whispered in the ear of one of the Ravenclaw girls as she bent over her match, studiously attempting to turn it into a needle. She jumped, startled, accidentally swinging her wand into the eye of the girl next to her.

"Ouch!"

"I'm so sorry! Merlin, are you all right?"

James snickered, fingering the needle he had successfully managed to Transfigure from a match, before anyone else, he might add. He returned to his seat at a table with Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Any luck, mates?" he asked, smirking superiorly.

"Shut up." Remus said, carefully waving his wand over his match. James brandished his needle tauntingly in his face.

Professor McGonagall's mouth was becoming thinner and thinner as the noise level in the room grew louder, and chaos took over. James was rather enjoying the effect the mayhem had on her. The Transfiguration teacher seemed to be the controlling sort to him. It was entertaining to see her annoyance at the disorganization of the class in general.

After creating a loud bang with her wand, Professor McGonagall yelled at the class. James didn't bother to listen to what she had to say, choosing instead to make his friends jealous of his natural Transfiguration talents. He did however look up when Professor McGonagall rounded on a boy who had accidentally covered himself in bright yellow feathers.

"Was he trying to turn himself into a chicken?" Sirius whispered.

The boys muffled their laughter as Professor McGonagall turned the Fenwick boy back to normal.

James decided to return to showing off his needle. To his great delight, Professor McGonagall caught sight of it.

"Excellent work, Mr. Potter." She bestowed upon him one of her famously rare smiles, and swept off to supervise the other students.

The rest of the class looked at him jealously. James decided to rub it in just a teensy bit by purposefully pretending to poke himself with his needle, exaggeratingly wincing at the sharp tip.

"If you don't stop that I'll shove it up your nose, then we can see just how sharp it is." Sirius grumbled, prodding his match with his wand.

James flicked his wand lazily, turning his needle into a match and back again. His classmates were still struggling pitifully, and James decided to "help" them out a little.

"Watch it, Chicken Boy. You might end up with feathers again." He said to the Fenwick boy.

"Merlin, are you trying to behead someone with your wand?" He told another Gryffindor, who scowled fiercely at him and turned away.

A smile worked its way across James's face when he saw the redhead, Evans, trying again and again to Transfigure her match, to no avail. He was going to have fun rubbing this into her face.

"You've got the wand movement all wrong, and you aren't even holding your wand properly. Blimey, how did you even get into this place?" James said to her tauntingly, savoring the rage that seeped into her face.

He swept off before the Evans girl could retort, laughing to himself. Silly fool. Some Gryffindor she was. She'd probably be a Hufflepuff, if she was lucky, that was.

James came up behind the Jones girl again and poked her shoulder. She spun around, startled, accidentally poking the Meadowes girl, who had just returned from the hospital wing, in the eye again.

"OUCH!"

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Are you all righ-"

"DO I LOOK ALL RIGHT? YOU JUST POKED ME IN EYE! _AGAIN_, I MIGHT ADD!"

James was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Was everyone in his year this foolish and gullible?

Wiping his eyes, James returned to his table to recount the story to Sirius, Peter, and Remus.

"Did you see her face? That was hilarious! And when Meadowes yelled at her? Pricele- Hey. Has anyone seen my needle? It was right here on the table, I swear."

James began searching frantically for his needle. He checked under the table, on the floor. "I left it right here! Did any of you lot take it?" He asked, crawling under the table to search more closely.

"Losing a needle? Pitiful. How did you even get into this place?" Someone said loudly.

James turned around so fast he hit his head on the table.

Lily Evans was smirking superiorly at him, holding up a silver needle that glinted in the light.

"What the- give that back!" Were the only words James could think of at the moment.

Evans's smirk grew even wider. She tossed her red hair over her shoulder. "Oh, it's not yours. I transfigured _this _myself."

James was about to retort with a "Yeah right", until she pointed to Professor McGonagall.

"_Yours_ is over there." she said, evidently relishing his incredulous expression.

James's silver needle was protruding from the top of Professor McGonagall's tightly wound hair bun. It flashed in the light as she moved from table to table, appraising their wand work.

"Close your mouth, mate, you're catching flies." Sirius's voice jolted James out of his shock.

"How did you-" James began, half irked, half impressed, but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall.

"Class will end in five minutes. At that time, all students will bring me their needle. Those who have not managed to successfully Transfigure their match into a needle will be assigned extra practice for homework."

James turned back to Evans. She grinned aggravatingly, turning her needle into a match and back again.

"Now look what you've done!" James whispered so as not to alert Professor McGonagall to the needle in her hair. "I'm going to have to do extra homework!"

"Is that so?" Evans said absently, picking an imaginary piece of lint of her robes."I guess you'll just have to get it back then, won't you?"

"Yeah, I'll just tell her what you did!"

"Good luck getting her to believe that. After all, I wasn't the one who waltzed in late to my first ever class at Hogwarts. See you later!" Evans flounced back to her seat, where she exchanged a round of high-fives from her friends.

"The worst thing is that she's right." Remus said suddenly.

"What?" James asked, still staring daggers at Lily Evans.

"There's absolutely no chance McGonagall's going to believe you over her." Remus said.

"But...we all saw her say where James's needle was!" Peter piped up. "We'll just tell her that-"

"Peter! Evans never told us she actually put it up there! She probably did, but we have no proof." Remus said with an air of finality.

"I'll go get it then. I'll show her." James said, gritting his teeth.

Unfortunately for him, Professor McGonagall was quite a bit taller than him, making it difficult for him to simply reach up and grab the needle out of her hair.

"Sirius, I need a distraction." James said, thinking hard.

Sirius's face lit up. "I thought you'd never ask."

Within seconds there was a loud bang and foul stench spread through the room. James sniggered as students pressed their hands to their noses and ran out of the classroom. However, there was no time to laugh. Darting behind Professor McGonagall, James climbed up on a stray chair and leaned forward to pluck the needle out of her hair.

Unfortunately, James miscalculated the distance between where he stood on the chair and Professor McGonagall. James overbalanced just as he was about to grab the needle, and began to fall of the chair toward the floor.

_I'm going to fall on my face! _James thought desperately, grabbing for something, anything to stop his fall. All he could think about was how stupid he was going to look if he felt flat on his face in front of Lily Evans. Suddenly his flailing arms caught hold of something, like a soft rope. He felt a momentary surge of triumph before the air was filled with an unearthly cry.

"AAIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

It turned out the "soft rope" James had caught onto was none other than Professor McGonagall's hair bun.

For the first and last time in the history of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall's hair was not in her customary bun. Her hair flowed in a long, loose river of brown to her feet, which greatly reduced the effect of the death glare she was giving James.

"Mr. Potter! In all my years of teaching, I never-" Professor McGonagall simply stood there stuttering, livid with rage.

James just stood there, still processing what had just happened.

Evans, on the other hand, was leaning against the wall for support, she was laughing so hard.

"Miss Evans! Is something funny?" Professor McGonagall asked, face red, her mouth was incredibly thin.

"Pardon me, Professor! I really didn't mean-" she exploded into giggles again. "You have to understand. The expression on his face..." Evans trailed off into silence, finally realized perhaps, that McGonagall was livid.

The rest of the class seemed torn between wanting to laugh and cowering at the angry look Professor McGonagall was giving Evans.

The hall began bustling with the laughter and footsteps of students as they were dismissed from their first class. "Class dismissed. Potter, Evans, come with me." Professor McGonagall said briskly, striding out of the classroom, her long hair dragging on the ground behind her.

Evans followed meekly. James trailed behind them, stopping to hi-five Sirius and a hesitant Remus and Peter.

Students stopped in the corridors to stare at the loose haired Professor McGonagall and the two first years following her. James flashed them all a rebellious grin. Evans stared at the ground. When no one was looking, she kicked James in the shin.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"This is all your fault! Now we're going to get in trouble on the very first day! What if she sends us home?"

"My fault? Who was the one who brilliantly decided to stick a needle in McGonagall's head? If anyone's being sent home, it's you. I have nothing to worry about." James said confidently, although inside he was quaking with fear. What if she was right? What if they were sent home? He didn't want to see the disappointed look on his dad's face.

Suddenly, the sound of Professor McGonagall's footsteps stopped. James, who was busy staring at his feet, bumped into Evans, who didn't even bother to give him a dirty glare. James looked up and saw why. They had halted in front of a large griffin statue, it's wings were spread across a large arch.

"Pumpkin Pasties." Professor McGonagall said tartly, rolling her eyes. The Griffin sprang aside, revealing a moving narrow spiral staircase that rose upward. Professor McGonagall stepped onto the staircase and instantly began moving upward. Evans followed, careful not to trod on Professor McGonagall's hair. James got onto the step below her. As they rose up, James saw an impressive looking wooden door bearing a brass griffin knocker at the sole landing.

The staircase stopped at the landing, allowing them to descend. Professor McGonagall knocked thrice on the knocker. James felt his heart beating faster and faster. His father had told him about Filch, the crazy caretaker who enjoyed hanging misbehaving students from the ceilings by their thumbs. James's dad had sworn his thumbs had grown at least an inch longer from this treatment. Although James seriously doubted this, it didn't stop his imagination from exploring horrendous punishment possibilities.

The door swung open, revealing Albus Dumbledore sitting at a polished wooden desk, his fingertips pressed together. A small smile appeared on his face at the sight of Professor McGonagall, her hair loose and quite a bit disheveled.

"Minerva! What brings you here?" he asked calmly.

"Mr. Potter here thought it would be funny to pull my hair." Professor McGonagall said indignantly.

James suppressed a snigger. She sounded like a schoolgirl reporting an injustice to the teacher. _Teacher! He pulled my hair!_

Dumbledore looked questioningly at Evans. "Ms. Evans was obviously an accomplice to this prank. She was unable to control her laughter." Professor McGonagall said with an air of someone stating the apparent.

Although James was being readily presented a way to get Evans in trouble, this was going too far. He, James Potter, taking Lily Evans as an accomplice? Preposterous.

"You don't understand!" He burst out. "She put my needle in Professor McGonagall's hair-"

"A needle?" Professor McGonagall asked, astonished.

"Yeah the one I Transfigured," James continued. "And then I had to go get it because you were going to assign us extra practice if we couldn't show that we had a needle,"

"Surely Mr. Potter, if this ridiculous story was true, you would have thought to remember that I had _already seen your needle_?" Professor McGonagall said, glaring at him sternly.

Realization washed over James like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on his head. "But-but I-that's not- I forgot..." James stuttered. Oh he was so going to murder Lily Evans.

Evans had a hand pressed to her mouth, probably to hold back a triumphant cry.

"I believe this merits at least a weeks' worth of detention for both of you, not to mention a loss of house points-"

"Minerva!" Professor Dumbledore cut in. Professor McGonagall fell silent at once. "The way I see it, there was no lasting damage done." -Professor McGonagall looked as if she felt otherwise-"and besides," Professor Dumbledore said smiling, looking straight at Professor McGonagall, "it does us all some good to-ah let our hair down, once in a while, don't you agree, Minerva?"

Professor McGonagall looked positively mutinous. She swept angrily out the door, tapping her head with her wand as she did so, charming her hair back into a tight bun at the back of her head.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Professor Dumbledore said kindly, indicating two armchairs in front of his desk.

"From what I've heard, this fiasco seems to be nothing more than a prank gone wrong, am I right?" Professor Dumbledore asked when they were seated.

They nodded vigorously.

"Then I see no reason for you to remain here! I will not give you detention, however, I believe an apology to Professor McGonagall is in order."

They nodded some more.

"Off you go then! You are already quite late for your next class!"

They scurried out the door. James could have sworn he heard Professor Dumbledore chuckle to himself before the it swung closed.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I hope you guys had as much fun reading this chapter as I did writing it. :) Review and tell me how it was! Thanks, Raventongue, for betaing this chapter!

By the way, my profile page has a new section! I will post updates on the status of my updates (if that makes any sense) and possibly sneak peeks, too!

I have also begun a new story, AU, Frank and Alice. However, I have received ZERO reviews! :( That's right, NONE. I'd really appreciate it if someone out there took a moment to read and review it and let me know if it's worth continuing or not. Thanks!

****

PLEASE!

~VictoryNike


	8. Locked

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. The characters, Hogwarts, etc., all belong to JK Rowling.

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Locked<strong>

"Okaayyyyyy. I have Charms next, so bye." Potter said casually, ruffling his hair and striding off in the opposite direction.

Lily checked her schedule and suppressed a snicker. All of the first year Gryffindors had the same schedule, and they had _Potions_ next.

Lily was sorely tempted to let him wander off in search of the Charms classroom and head off to Potions herself. The problem was though, she had no idea where the dungeons were. Besides, she still had to return something to him.

"Oh by the way, Potter," she called after him.

He turned.

"You forgot this." she pulled his needle from her pocket and flung it at him. It landed on the floor with a small clink about five feet from Potter, which greatly reduced the dramatic effect Lily had been hoping for.

Potter raised an eyebrow.

Lily continued smoothly. "Your needle was in my pocket the whole time. I just transfigured one of the hairpins on Professor McGonagall's head into a needle. It's the same concept as a match, really." Lily gave him a superior smirk.

Potter's eyes hardened behind his glasses. "It's on, Evans. You don't know anything about pranking. Just you wait, you'll regret this."

He turned back around and continued walking towards the Charms classroom.

"I don't know about that, but I'm sure going to regret telling you that we actually have Potions next, not Charms."

Potter spun around. He fixed Lily with a suspicious glare, simultaneously digging his crumpled schedule out of his bag. He scanned it quickly.

Lily saw the annoyance in his eyes when he realized she was right. She almost giggled out loud. He wore all his emotions on his face. Everyone could tell what he was thinking.

"I knew that." he said stiffly.

"Okay, sure." Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Have any idea where the dungeons are?"

"_Everybody _knows where the dungeons are, Evans. Oh yeah, except you. Although I can't say that's surprising, since you could barely even Transfigure a needle." Potter sneered.

Lily said nothing, knowing that Potter's statement couldn't be less true. Potter seemed to realize this too, for he didn't comment on Lily's silence.

He set off down a corridor. Lily followed warily. She wouldn't put it past Potter to lock her up somewhere as revenge for her little joke that morning.

Potter hurried down a staircase, his tie flying behind him. Lily felt her heartbeat quicken. Was he trying to leave her behind? Was that his plan? What if she missed Potions entirely because of him? What if-

Suddenly there was a jolt as the staircase detached itself from the floor, and began rising toward an upper landing. Lily grabbed the banister so she wouldn't slide backward off the staircase.

The staircase stopped at a small landing that led to a single door. It was more an indoor balcony than a landing.

Potter stepped onto the balcony. Lily hesitated a moment, then followed.

"Are you sure you know where the dungeons are?" Lily asked again, panic rising in her chest.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know exactly where to go," Potter said, but he seemed unsure.

There was a loud squelching noise as the staircase moved, leaving them stranded on the landing.

"You've got to be kidding me! Now we're stuck over here while we're missing Potions!" Lily exclaimed.

"Where does this door go?" Potter murmured, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Potter! You're just going to get us even more lost!" Lily yelled.

"Lost? I never get lost." Potter said, opening the door and disappearing inside it.

Lily folded her arms crossly. This was fantastic. First she was sent to the Headmaster's office on her very first day, and now she was lost, and missing her second lesson of the day. Whichever way she looked at it, it was all Potter's fault.

She weighed her options. Either she could sit out here and wait for the next staircase to arrive, or she could follow Potter.

Sighing, she grasped the door handle and descended into darkness. If she had to get lost, she'd rather not be lost alone, even if it meant being lost with James Potter.

"Okay, I'm positive this is not the way to the Potions classroom." Lily grumbled.

"Hey, I never said that I was actually going to Potions!" Potter said from somewhere in the darkness.

"WHAT?" Lily shrieked.

Then they heard the click of a lock as the door shut behind them.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> YES! I JUST LOCKED JAMES AND LILY IN A ROOM TOGETHER! They probably hate me right now. XD

...so review? Because I will definitely be updating more often from now on (in fact I have some of chapter 9 written ALREADY). So the more reviews, the more I will feel inspired to write more and therefore UPDATE more! :D

**REVIEW! :D**

****~VictoryNike


	9. Locked, Part 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot. Hogwarts, etc., belong to JK Rowling.

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Locked, Part Two<strong>

_Then they heard the click of a lock as the door shut behind them. _

James froze.

He heard Evans grab the door handle and shake it vigorously and bang on the door in a desperate attempt to get out.

"NO!" she shrieked. "This CAN _NOT_ be happening!"

"Move over. I'll open it." James said, moving in the direction of her voice. It was pitch black and they couldn't see a thing. He tripped over a box of some sort and hit the floor with a thud.

"What was that?" Lily yelled, stumbling haphazardly toward James, who was just getting up, clutching his head.

"What the...?" James yelped as they knocked heads and both fell on the floor.

"Are you always this clumsy?" he asked irritatedly, rubbing his forehead.

"Are you always this stupid?" came his reply.

James scowled into the darkness. This whole thing was _her_ fault, anyway. Bloody witch. So he told her so.

"You shut up, Evans. The whole reason we're in here is because of _you._"

"_My_ fault? _My_ fault? Who decided to ditch only the second magic lesson we've ever had to go explore what was behind a stupid little door? "

"This was way more fun than a stupid lesson until you decided to come along!"

"Shove off, Potter."

"Oh believe me, I'd love to, except instead, I'm stuck in a room with you!"

James heard her sigh in exasperation. He felt a whoosh of air as she got up. Evans banged on the door. "LET US OUT! WE'RE LOCKED IN HERE!"

"It's useless, Evans. They can't hear you." James told her, perching himself comfortably on a box and leaning back against the wall with his arms behind his head. This was definitely going to be a long wait. Might as well get comfortable.

Something shattered. "Evans! What are you doing?" he cried in alarm.

Another crash. A thump.

"I COULD BE LEARNING MAGIC! I COULD BE SEEING THE MAGICAL WORLD! I COULD BE ANYWHERE! Anywhere- anywhere but here..." Evans trailed off.

Moments later she heard her slump against the opposite wall. James supposed she had been throwing things at the door.

Evans didn't say anything for a long time.

The moments wore on. James was incredibly bored. So naturally, he began singing.

"99 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY ON THE WALL, 99 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY! TAKE ONE DOWN AND CHUG IT ALL DOWN, 98 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY!"

"What the HECK do you think you're doing?" Evans screeched.

"Singing. Merlin, Evans, don't you recognize good music when you hear it?" he replied.

"98 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY ON THE WALL, 98 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY! TAKE ONE DOWN AND CHUG IT ALL DOWN, 97 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY!" he sang with gusto.

"I swear, I'll _strangle_ you if you don't shut up!" she shrieked.

"97 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY ON THE WALL, 97 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY! TAKE ONE DOWN AND CHUG IT ALL DOWN, 96 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY!" he was nearly screaming now.

"You imbecile!"

"96 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY ON THE WALL, 96 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY! TAKE ONE DOWN AND CHUG IT ALL DOWN, 95 BOTTLES OF FIREWHISKEY!"

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! I'M STUCK IN HERE WITH A RUDDY LUNATIC!"

James cringed. He had totally underestimated the volume her voice could take on.

"WATCH WHO YOU'RE CALLING A LUNATIC, EVANS!"

"I'LL CALL WHOEVER I WANT WHATEVER I WANT, POTTER!"

"GET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE! THIS IS HELL!"

"YES POTTER, OF COURSE IT IS, _YOU'RE_ HERE, AFTER ALL!"

"THAT'S IT, EVANS!"

"DON'T MAKE ME CURSE YOU, POTTER!"

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU AND YOUR STUPID WAND! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CAN DO MAGIC, ANYWAY!

There was a bright flash of light as the door opened. They blinked furiously, blinded by the sudden light.

The silhouette of an irate Professor McGonagall in a tall pointed hat filled James' vision.

She stepped aside to let them out.

James tore from the room like a madman, he was so relieved.

"FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST!" he screamed with joy, barely restraining himself from kissing the floor in relief.

And then he passed out.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Hopefully my story will get more interesting with the next chapters. I'm not satisfied with this one, but I'm not sure what to change. Anyway, please review, tell me how it is.

REVIEW PEOPLE!

~VictoryNike

6/11/12


	10. The Drunkard and the Banshee

**Disclaimer**: Hogwarts, the characters, etc. all belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the plot.

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: The Drunkard and the Banshee<strong>

Lily awoke to the sound of deep, throaty laughter.

"So tell me again what happened, Minerva?"

"It's not a laughing matter, Horace. It truly sounded like a banshee and a drunkard had somehow managed to trap themselves in the same room! I unlocked the door and these two came barreling out..."

"And you stunned them?"

"They were running around like madmen, Horace! What would you have done?"

Lily spotted a rather rotund man standing beside Professor McGonagall, wholehearted chuckles issuing from his mouth, causing his entire belly to vibrate.

Lily looked around. The bed she was lying on had white, hospital like sheets. The room was airy, with skylights that let in beams of sunlight. Oh yeah, and James Potter was lying on a bed a few yards to her right, arms folded behind his back, staring at the ceiling.

Lily shot him a dirty look that he didn't see. The round man turned all the way around to face her. He grinned at her, drawing attention to his spectacular walrus mustache.

"So this is the young lady who performed the most impressive impersonation of a banshee Hogwarts has ever seen!" he exclaimed, a broad smile appearing above his ample chin.

Lily's first instinct was to blush with shame, then hide under the covers and never come out again. However, her anger at James Potter for getting her into the situation in the first place was greater. "Thank you sir, but I believe the credit for that goes to Potter over there." she said charmingly.

"Oho!" The professor cried. "Is that so, Mr. Potter?"

"Sure. Then that would make her the drunkard. Pick your poison, Evans." Potter said nonchalantly.

"I seem to recall that _you_ were the one who was singing 99 bottles of Firewhiskey at the top of your lungs, Potter." Lily countered.

"Whatever." Potter deadpanned, resuming his dull stare at the ceiling.

The professor clutched his belly, laughing. A woman dressed in white robes entered the room, waving her arms as if to shoo out an irksome fly. "Professor Slughorn, I must ask you to leave the Hospital Wing so I can tend to my patients." she said, looking rather irritated.

Professor Slughorn rolled his eyes, but complied.

Madam Pomfrey began to fuss over them. "I never...in all my years here, I never!" she grumbled. "Stunned by a _teacher_! Although I can't say I blame poor Minerva. I ought to take a vacation for the next seven years." she grumbled, trying to force Lily to swallow some kind of nasty smelling tonic.

Lily wrinkled her nose. "Open...your...mouth." Madam Pomfrey said through gritted teeth, giving up on Lily and instead attempting to wrench Potter's jaw open.

Right on cue, something exploded behind the curtain, filling the air with smoke. Madam Pomfrey rushed toward the source of the explosion, wand out.

Lily had jumped about a foot when the explosion had occurred, but a huge grin had spread across Potter's face. Three figures emerged from the smoke. Lily recognized them as Sirius, Remus, and Peter, the three fools who would actually hang out with Potter.

"C'mon mate, let's get out of here." Sirius muttered.

The four boys exchanged a round of high fives.

Remus glanced worriedly through the clearing smoke in Madam Pomfrey's direction. "She'll be back any moment now."

Potter nodded and the four of them crept through the smoke and out the door. Lily watched them with wide eyes. Madam Pomfrey's coughs grew louder as she moved through the smoke toward Lily.

In a split second decision, Lily darted through the smoke and followed Potter and his friends out the door.

The halls hummed with the sound of the students journeying to the Great Hall for dinner. Lily joined the pulsing mob moving toward the huge double doors. She was starving. Someone crashed into her. Lily stumbled.

"Oh! Sorry Lily..."

She looked up into the beetle black eyes of Severus. Her face broke into a smile. Really, all she wanted was to talk to him.

"Hey Sev! You won't believe what happened today, I-"

"Uh, listen Lily. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"What? What's up with you, Sev? First you just leave with those two blokes on our way to Hogwarts! Hogwarts, Sev! Now you won't even talk to me!"

"What about you?" Sev demanded. "Pulling a prank with that prat, Potter, and then running off with him for the rest of the day!"

"I did not run off with him!" Lily began, but he cut her off again.

"Potter and his friends are trouble, Lily. Don't you remember what happened on the train?" Severus demanded, raising his voice slightly.

"Of course I remember, but-"

"I've got to go Lily." Severus said suddenly, catching the eye of one of the boys he had left with the day before.

Just like that, he was gone. Lily felt like something inside her didn't fit right. Severus had always understood her perfectly. She'd always thought that they would stay best friends at Hogwarts. Apparently she was wrong. Everything had gone wrong from the moment she was sorted into Gryffindor.

Lily pushed her thoughts of Severus away as she caught sight of Alice's dark haired head. "Alice!" she cried.

Alice turned. "Lily! Oh my goodness you wouldn't believe the rumors... I heard you and Potter got locked in that abandoned classroom on the eighth floor together, and McGonagall _stunned _you! But I told them there was no way that could have happened..."

"Er..."

Alice's eyes widened. "No. Way."

"Great. Now I'll go down in history as The Girl That was Stunned by McGonagall." Lily groaned.

Alice laughed, and the two girls entered the Great Hall.

"Lily!" Mary shrieked, running towards them.

So Lily had to explain what actually happened, first to Alice and Mary, then Marlene, and a lot of curious people ranging from Sturgis Podmore to Professor Slughorn to the Gryffindor ghost, Headless Nick (who had given her such a fright when she first saw him she had nearly fallen into the gravy). Lily glanced over at Potter, who was evidently countering all her attempts to end rumors by dramatizing McGonagall's hair coming out as much as he possibly could, milking whatever attention he was getting for all it was worth. Prat. Even worse, twice during dinner she caught Sev's black eyes staring at her, but refused to make eye contact, which made her feel rather guilty afterward. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

She muttered something about the loo to her friends and walked as quickly as she could out of the Great Hall before dinner ended. As soon as she was out of sight of the huge double doors, she broke into a run, stopping only when she reached the portrait of the fat lady, only to find it empty.

"Hey! What happened?" she said stupidly to herself, before realizing she had said it out loud.

"I think she went to visit somebody," said a voice to her right.

Lily turned to find a boy about her age sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall.

"They can do that?" Lily asked, hoping for a normal conversation, not one involving Potter's suicidal de-bunning of McGonagall's hair.

"Yeah. At least, they do at home. Mother's got a lot of portraits of our dead relatives and stuff."

"Oh. Do they come back?"

"Sure. I've heard they like to move from picture to picture around Hogwarts."

"Oh." Lily said, slumping against the wall next to the boy. All she wanted right now was to go to sleep and pretend all of this was a dream. And strangle James Potter.

"Don't you have portraits at home?" the boy asked curiously.

"No. My parents are Muggles, you see." Lily explained, smiling slightly at the look of bewilderment on his round face.

"Really? Both of my parents are magical." he grimaced slightly. "I'm Frank Longbottom, by the way." he added quietly, holding out his hand.

"Hey," Frank said suddenly. "No offense or anything, but aren't you the girl everyone's been talking about, the one who helped James Potter pull out McGonagall's hair in Transfiguration today?"

Lily gaped at him. "I didn't help him! I- I don't know what I did." she finished lamely.

Frank smiled. "I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Are you sure you didn't help that Potter guy out?"

"_No_." Lily said firmly. "Just between you and me though, I actually was trying to get back at him. He was kinda annoying me, you know? Criticizing my magic just because he was the first to Transfigure the match."

Frank nodded. "He told me I would never be able to Transfigure anything. Not that far from what my mum says actually. Maybe they're right."

"That's ridiculous!" Lily cried. "Just because someone says something doesn't make it true!"

"I dunno. I couldn't Transfigure it. I tried and tried... but I just couldn't." Frank looked at his feet sadly.

"When you tried, did you believe you could do it?"

"What?"

"When you were Transfiguring, did you believe in yourself and try your best, or did you keep thinking about what your mum said?" Lily repeated.

"I guess I was thinking about what she said. And what Potter said."

"That's probably why."

"Ah-hem." Someone cleared their throat loudly behind them. It was the fat lady, back in her portrait.

"About time," Frank grumbled.

Lily snickered.

"Juggernaut." Lily said, and the Fat Lady swung forward to reveal the portrait hole. They scrambled over it.

"See you later." Frank said, waving, and went up the staircase to the boys' dormitory.

"Later." Lily said climbing the girls' staircase and collapsing on her bed.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>This chapter is, undeniably, a filler. Sorry guys. I tried to make it longer to cover more filler-y stuff in one shot. ALSO, I want to make it very clear that there will be NO romance between Frank and Lily. They will remain friends, only friends, and nothing else except friends. Frank is meant for Alice, and Lily is meant for James. I just wanted to get that out of the way in case I didn't make it clear in the chapter. However, I will include a decent amount of Frank/Alice romance. :)

Please keep in mind that this chapter was not edited by my beta. This is an unedited chapter I am posting for the sake of posting something.

**Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I really appreciate it! To the anon reviewer who reviewed as "hermione 101": THANKS! I really wouldn't have written this chapter this early if it wasn't for your review! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. :)**

REVIEW! Please!

****~VictoryNike


	11. Filibusters and Flying Lessons

**Disclaimer:** Hogwarts, the characters, etc. all belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the plot.

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: Filibusters and Flying Lessons<strong>

The next morning, breakfast was interrupted by a large red envelope. From the moment that the tawny owl clutching the infamous red letter came into view in the enchanted ceiling above the Great Hall, James noticed Sirius's eyes follow the letter warily. The owl circled closer and closer to the Gryffindor table. By now the entire Great Hall had fallen silent, eying the letter interestedly, wondering to whom it belonged. James felt his stomach tighten. Had he done anything to deserve a Howler? He racked his brains. Nope. Not yet.

Still, the owl seemed to be coming toward him. Closer, closer. The owl perched on the Gryffindor table and held out a leg for the Howler to be untied. Not to James, but to Sirius. Sirius paled. For a moment he glanced toward the Slytherin table and locked eyes with the heavy-jawed girl he had told them was his cousin. She smiled maliciously.

Sirius stared as the edges of the letter began to smoke. He quickly untied the letter from the owl and tried to eye letter indifferently. Only James momentarily glimpsed the fear on his face.

The letter exploded, singing Sirius's eyebrows.

"GRYFFINDOR? _GRYFFINDOR?_ NEVER HAS OUR FAMILY BEEN SO DISGRACED! YOU USELESS TRAITOR! JUST YOU WAIT TILL YOU COME HOME! I'LL NOT HAVE OUR FAMILY BRANDED AS BLOOD-TRAITORS BECAUSE OF YOUR FREAKISH NATURE! WHEN I RECEIVED BELLATRIX'S LETTER IT ONLY CONFIRMED WHAT I KNEW ALL ALONG! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT AN UNGRATEFUL BRAT UNWORTHY OF THE BLACK FAMILY NAME AND PUREBLOOD PRESTIGE! " The letter screeched in a high voice.

Sirius clenched his jaw. He stared at the letter as if hoping he could burn a hole through it.

"ENJOY_ GRYFFINDOR_, TRAITOR." the letter finished, the sneer evident in its voice.

With that, the letter collapsed into a pile of ashes. Sirius looked at it cautiously for a moment, as if afraid it would resurrect and start yelling again. When it remained a pile of ashes, Sirius pulled a plate towards him and resumed eating as if nothing had happened.

The stunned silence in the Great Hall was broken by laughter and clapping from the Slytherin table. There were a few jeering calls from the Slytherins, which Sirius pointedly ignored. Slowly, the noise level in the Great Hall returned to normal.

Sirius quickly initiated a mundane conversation about their next class, Potions, making it clear that he didn't want to talk about the Howler. James, Sirius, and Peter, catching on, didn't mention it.

Due to the fact that James had missed all of his classes the day before, he found himself struggling to catch up.

On the other hand, Lily Evans seemed to already be the favorite of the potions professor. James felt rather annoyed when he entered the classroom to find her chatting happily with Professor Slughorn.

As the week progressed, James's thoughts turned to Quidditch. He still found it ridiculously unfair that First Years weren't allowed to compete on their house teams.

If they could just get around to their flying lesson, James thought, then he'd show them all how good he was at Quidditch. Then they'd have to let him on the team.

Naturally, when he awoke on Saturday morning to find a notice tacked to the bulletin board in the Gryffindor Common Room stating that First Years would have mandatory flying lessons the following Monday, he was jubilant. Not even the letter his mother had sent him, scolding him that an entire week had passed and he hadn't bothered to write his parents, could dampen his spirits.

James did reply to the letter, asking his dad to send him his broomstick. James didn't see how he could possibly impress the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, who he had learned was Emmeline Vance, flying on the old school broomsticks.

To his dismay, he received a reply from his father the very next day, without a broomstick shaped package attached. The envelope contained nothing but a scrap of paper that said simply "Nice try". James scowled.

"Wassa matta?" Peter asked him, mouth full of porridge.

Remus leaned over his shoulder to read James's father's reply. "Told you he'd never send you the broomstick,"

"Yeah but I didn't think he'd actually make me fly on a Shooting Star! Those things were outdated when _he_ was a kid!" James cried indignantly.

"Don't worry, half of the First years haven't even been on a broomstick. You'll smoke the competition, except for me, that is." Sirius smirked.

"Yeah," James said, brightening, "yeah, that's right."

In spite of the windy, cloudy conditions the next day, James's confidence was undaunted. He walked out to the pitch with a light springy step. This would be a piece of cake.

A group of first years was already gathered outside. Many of them, Lily Evans included, were staring apprehensively at the broomsticks.

"Do they really fly?" Evans was asking the girl next to her, McKinnon or something like that.

James snickered loudly.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said, smirking superiorly.

Evans's reply was cut off by the arrival of Madam Hooch, the flying instructor.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle sharply. "I want everyone to stand to the right of a broomstick and hold out their hand like so"-she held her hand out above the broom at waist height-"and say firmly, 'Up!'"

"Up!" James said confidently, and broomstick soared right into his hand. He leant on it as he watched the progress of his classmates.

Sirius had succeeded on his first try, like James. Peter however, had commanded his broom to rise a little too enthusiastically, and was now leaping in the air, attempting to get his broom down from where it had stopped, about a foot and half above his head.

Remus's broomstick on the other hand, had remained motionless on the ground, despite his best efforts to coax it into his hand. "UP! C'mon, please? Up-please?"

Frank Longbottom had given up completely, and a Slytherin boy was trying to sneakily lift the broom up, with no luck.

Finally, James allowed himself to glance over at Evans, sure he would find her screaming at the broom to rise. To his intense disappointment and fury, he found that she already had the broom in her hand and was now helping out the greasy haired Slytherin, Snivellus.

"It's not that hard, Sev, just hold your hand out, and say 'Up!'"

"Up."

"Say it confidently! C'mon Sev, I know you can do it!"

"Up!" Snivellus smiled as the broom rose into his hand.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle again, and moved through the two lines of students, straightening up the chaos. Peter's broom finally fell from the sky on its own accord, hitting him on the head and knocking him out. Remus's broom leapt into his hand.

When all of the students finally had their brooms off the ground, Madam Hooch instructed them to mount them and hover for a few seconds.

James rolled his eyes. This was elementary. On her whistle, he kicked off the ground and hovered perfectly slightly above Sirius's head.

"Showoff." Sirius muttered, and rose up higher.

At last, Madam Hooch noticed Peter, still unconscious on the ground. She sighed and placed her wand on his forehead. "Rennervate."

Peter, revived, immediately mounted his broomstick and rose up with everyone else.

Bored, James decided to practice his Sloth Grip Roll as he hovered, turning a full circle effortlessly. Some of the other kids, Peter included, looked at him admiringly. James grinned. Now they would all know that the air was his territory. Flight was one thing he excelled at. He turned a couple more rolls for their benefit and came to a complete stop just as Madam Hooch looked his way.

The attention and admiration filled his brain with adrenaline. He attempted more and more daring feats when Madam Hooch's back was turned, once shooting up twenty feet in the air and turning a somersault. Evans and Snivellus were both sending him death glares. He sent them a cheeky smile.

Madam Hooch finally permitted them to fly higher, provided they were careful not to crash into one another. James gladly soared higher and higher. The wind ruffled his hair. James could see everything from up here: the lake, the castle, the redhead who was flying higher than him...

Wait. The redhead who was flying higher than him? He spun around. Sure enough, it was Evans, clutching her broom with both hands, but looking exhilarated, her long red hair fanning out behind her.

No. This was not happening. Quidditch and flying were _his_ forte. He was not going to let Evans beat him here.

He shot up higher, looking down at her. She glared at him, but did not follow. Instead she headed for the ground. The rustle of the trees grew louder and louder, accompanied by the howl of the wind. Great, fat drops of rain began to fall from the darkening clouds overhead.

For just a moment, James felt terror chill his heart. He had never flown this high in these types of conditions before. His mother had never let him. He felt recklessly daring and brave. This, he thought, was why he was a Gryffindor. He wasn't scared of a little rain or wind.

He became suddenly aware that everyone else had returned to the ground. "Cowards." he scoffed aloud.

Madam Hooch was blowing her whistle, waving her arms, telling him to come down too...

James turned a somersault rebelliously and flew still higher. The winds buffeted him back and forth, stripping him of control of the broom. James panicked slightly and attempted to return to the ground, but (though he hated to admit it) the wind was too strong. The next thing he knew, he was soaring sideways towards the castle wall.

He was dimly aware of passing through the Quaffle hoop. _Score._ He thought stupidly, before he slammed into the wall and everything went dark.

"Concussion, I think."

James blearily opened his eyes. Sirius's face peered down at him. "You idiot. Were you showing off for Evans?"

"What?" James yelped.

"You fancy her, don't you?"

"Of course not!" James nearly yelled.

"Sure, sure." Remus teased.

James glared at him.

"Okay, okay, kidding." Remus conceded, rolling his eyes.

"They'll put you on the Quidditch team all right, as the team lunatic!" Sirius guffawed.

James rolled his eyes. "Are we getting out of here or what?"

"Yeah...about that." Sirius said, with the air of one divulging a great secret. "Madam Pomfrey's on to us! She suspects that we helped you escape-I mean, leave, last time you were in the Hospital Wing!"

"No kidding." Remus muttered sarcastically.

"She even warned us 'not to try any funny business' this time." Sirius continued.

"Right. Well, is that going to stop us?" James asked, looking around for Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes!" Peter began, then looked hastily at the others. "I mean...no."

"Great. Then let's go." James swung his legs over the side of the bed and headed for the door.

"One problem. Madam Pomfrey is right there." Remus pointed out.

Sure enough, Madam Pomfrey was standing guard by the door.

"Anyone got any Filibusters?" James asked, determinedly.

Sirius pulled one of the brightly colored fireworks out of his pocket.

"Excellent."

"We haven't got a match." Peter said suddenly.

Unfortunately, James realized this was true. None of them knew how to light it with their wands either.

James snatched his wand off the bedside table and prodded the firework with his wand anyway. Immediately it began to swell. He flung it over the curtain and crossed his fingers beneath the white Hospital Wing blanket.

With a terrific bang, it continued to grow, engulfing the curtain. "Now would be a good time to run for it." Remus said wisely.

The other boys didn't wait for him to tell them twice. The four of them ran out the door, past a shrieking Madam Pomfrey.

"NOT AGAIN! NOT MY HOSPITAL WING!"

The boys laughed and sprinted out into the corridor and didn't stop until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Only then did James become aware of a pain in his shoulder.

"You okay?" Sirius asked, noting James wincing.

"Nothing. It's just my shoulder. Must have slammed it against the castle wall when I lost control of my broom..." James shoved the memory from his mind. It wasn't something he wanted to remember.

"I'm okay, though." he added quickly.

"I'm hungry." Peter said, breaking the odd silence that had settled over the group.

"It's lunchtime." Remus agreed. "Let's go eat."

The four of them set off towards the Great Hall. When they reached the Gryffindor Table, James caught a snippet of conversation.

"You're just the right build for a Seeker, come to think of it." Emmeline Vance said.

James spun around, giddy with excitement. Seeker was totally his position. Was it possible Emmeline had finally noticed his talent?

Yep, Emmeline Vance had definitely said that. But she wasn't talking to him. She was talking to a red haired, green eyed someone. James's jaw dropped open.

"You're light and speedy," Emmeline continued. "We could use you on our team. It's really too bad you're a first year."

"H-h-_her_?" James spluttered. This couldn't be happening. He had practiced his entire life, and she had probably never touched a broomstick in her life.

Emmeline smiled sympathetically. "How's your shoulder? I heard you lost control of your broom yesterday."

James turned and stalked away, fuming. It was bad enough that Evans had beaten him in nearly every class, tricked him into earning himself a permanently bad reputation with Professor McGonagall the week before, and flown higher than him (however temporarily) in their flying lesson, but now she was a candidate for Seeker. Seeker. His position. And this had to happen right after he had fallen spectacularly during their very first flying lesson, despite having been flying his entire life.

This was all her fault.

James stormed up to his dormitory without eating anything, too furious to care. He flopped on his bed, angry at the world, especially Lily Evans.

There was a sharp knocking at his window. James got up to let a handsome, tawny owl James recognized as his dad's inside. It was carrying a brown paper wrapped package. He tore it open eagerly, and pulled out a length of silvery material.

"Merlin." James breathed, staring at it.

It was his dad's legendary Invisibility Cloak. Why his dad was giving James something that good was beyond him. As he tried it on in front of the mirror and his entire body disappeared, leaving his head floating in midair, there was no denying what it was. James let out a whoop of joy.

"AAGHH!" Someone screamed, tumbling back out of the doorway.

"What's the matter, Peter?" came Remus's exasperated voice.

"J-J-James!"

"What about him?"

"He's h-h-headless!" Peter squealed. "I mean, his head's floating in midair!"

Sirius pushed past Peter to see James.

"Oh man! That's wicked!"

"It's an Invisibility Cloak!" Remus said in an awed voice.

"My dad sent it to me." James explained, rummaging in the wrapping paper for a note.

_James,_

_I had a lot of fun with this as a kid. Now it's your turn. Don't get into trouble, and don't mention to your Mum that I sent this to you._

_Can't wait to see what you get up to with this,_  
><em>Dad<em>

James grinned. His dad was brilliant.

"That's awesome!" Remus said, "Is that why you left Lunch early?"

James scowled and quickly explained what Emmeline Vance had told Evans.

"That's messed up." Sirius said quickly. "What the heck is wrong with Vance? Evans probably Confunded her or something."

"No, she wouldn't do that." Remus said quietly.

"What makes you think that?" James demanded sharply.

"She's actually pretty nice, if you get to know her."

James stared at him. "What're you, _friends_ or something?"

Remus shrugged. "I'm just saying, that's all."

"You don't understand, Remus! She's the enemy! Have you forgotten how she tricked me into pulling McGonagall's hair down? I'm the laughing stock of the school!"

"You're the laughing stock of the school because you crashed into the castle wall yesterday, mate." Sirius corrected him, laughing.

James seethed.

"Do you understand what this means?" James demanded, shaking the Invisibility Cloak in their faces.

"What?"

"It means we can finally get some decent revenge on Evans." And for what seemed like the first time in a long while, a slow, mischievous smile spread over James's face.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>: Finally, a chapter that was really fun to write :) I hope you guys enjoyed it. I realize that Lily seemed a little too perfect, but that's because its James's POV.

Also, I don't know if any of you saw, but I posted a small sneak peek of this chapter under my updates section. Let me know if you want to see more of those in a review. :)

Check out my new one shot about the Marauders, Till Death Does Us Part.

After that bit of shameless advertising, it's time for a little shameless begging for reviews! REVIEW! Come on, you don't even have to go through the trouble of pressing a button anymore! Come on, just type in a little comment and hit enter! I have a significant part of Chapter 12 already written, (well there's a first!) so the faster you review, the faster I update! :D

~VictoryNike


	12. Gilderoy Lockhart

**Disclaimer:** Hogwarts, the characters, etc. all belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the plot.

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><p><strong>Chapter 12: Gilderoy Lockhart<strong>

"I can't believe Potter did that!" Severus snickered.

"Yeah..." Lily said distractedly.

They were sitting on the banks of the lake after their first flying lesson, sheltering from the strong wind behind a tree.

"I mean...he thought he was so great he could keep flying when Madam Hooch told everyone to come down!" Severus continued. "Serves him right, if you ask me."

Lily shrugged.

"...don't you think so, Lily?" Severus trailed off.

"He could have really gotten hurt if Madam Hooch hadn't slowed him down with her wand. That's pretty high to fall from..."

"Yeah, but he deserved it."

"I felt how strong those winds were up there. It would have been pretty hard to fly down at that point."

"Lily, are you_ defending_ him?" Severus demanded incredulously.

"No, but-"

"Have you forgotten what happened on the train? Potter and his mates have been nothing but rude to both of us!"

"I _know_, Sev!" Lily said, raising her voice a little. "I'm not defending him. He's a jerk. All I'm saying is that it wasn't completely his fault."

Severus said something in reply, but Lily wasn't paying attention. There was something else that was bothering her. Last week, Sirius Black had received a screaming letter that Alice said was a Howler.

The Howler had told Black he was unworthy of the "pureblood prestige" because he was in Gryffindor. She had heard the word "pureblood" used multiple times but didn't know what it meant. It sounded like some weird medical condition to her.

"Sev?" she said, cutting across his rants about Potter's idiocy.

"What?"

"What's a pureblood?"

Sev thought about it for a moment. "It's just what some people call themselves. People who can trace their heritage back for generations and generations of magical blood." he said bitterly.

"So your mum is one, then?"

"Yeah, so that makes me a halfblood."

"Oh. What would that make me?" Lily asked curiously.

"A mud- I mean, a muggleborn."

"What?"

"A muggleborn."

"No, I meant what were you going to say that you didn't?"

"Nothing. I just stuttered."

"Oh. Okay." Lily said, although she had been sure he had meant to say something else, something other than 'muggleborn'.

"But it doesn't mean anything, right?" she asked quickly, both to suppress the odd suspicion cropping up in her head, and to end the odd silence that had descended over the pair.

"No. Of course not. It doesn't matter at all."

"Good." Lily said, relieved.

"It's nearly lunchtime." she added, noting the the raindrops that had resumed falling from the fat gray clouds overhead. "We should get back."

Severus nodded, and the pair set off across the lawn toward the Great Hall.

They split at the Great Hall, Lily toward the Gryffindor table, Severus toward the Slytherin one. Lily gave Severus a small wave that he did not return, instead giving her a small smile before hurrying toward the Slytherin table.

Feeling a little annoyed by his behavior, Lily plopped down on the bench in between Alice and Mary.

"Where were you?" Alice demanded, taking in Lily's wet hair and robes.

"Out on the grounds."

"By yourself?" Mary inquired.

"No. With Severus."

"What, that _Slytherin_?" Marlene put in disgustedly. "What's the deal with you and him, anyway?"

"We're friends, like I said before." Lily said firmly, swallowing a large mouthful of pumpkin juice in the hopes of indicating the subject was closed.

"So...flying was pretty fun, right?" Lily said, when she had drained her pumpkin juice and her friends were still looking at her funny.

"Potter took quite a tumble though, didn't he?" Marlene giggled.

Lily gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Potter?" came a voice from behind them. "Isn't that the First Year with glasses and the hair that always sticks up?"

The girls turned to find Emmeline Vance, the gruff Quidditch Captain, looking at them curiously.

"Yeah."

"What happened to him?"

"He crashed into the castle wall." Mary said, suppressing her laughter.

"No wonder. The conditions were pretty terrible out there." Emmeline scowled at the clouds through the window as if that would make them go away. "I can't schedule tryouts for the team until the weather clears up, and we need to find a Seeker, pronto..."

Emmeline glanced suddenly at Lily.

"Can you fly?"

Lily nodded.

"You're just the right build for a seeker come to think of it." she said thoughtfully. "You're light and speedy. We could use you on our team. It's really too bad you're a first year."

"H-h-_her_?" Came an incredulous voice from behind Lily. It was-speak of the devil-James Potter, looking absolutely caught off guard.

"How's your shoulder? I heard you lost control of your broom yesterday." Emmeline asked, clearly trying to be nice. She had even gotten rid of her gruff tone.

Potter stormed away, but not before they caught a glimpse of his livid expression.

"Maybe next year." Emmeline finished, as if nothing had happened, then left to go eat lunch with her friends.

Sturgis Podmore waved at Emmeline hopefully as she passed, but she either ignored him or didn't notice. Sturgis looked rather crestfallen.

"Oooh. Potter's jealous." Marlene said gleefully. "Serves him right, for showing off today."

"He looked pretty mad, too..." Alice added, watching Potter stalk out the door.

"Careful, Lily." Mary whispered suddenly. "He's really impulsive isn't he? He'll do something to get back at Emmeline...or you."

For some reason, this really ticked Lily off. He was mad, was he? He was going to get revenge on _her_? If anyone deserved to be mad, it would be her. Potter had insulted her best friend, locked her in some stupid classroom in the eighth floor, got her taken to see the headmaster on the very first day, and now _he_ was mad at _her_?

"Potter can try whatever he wants." Lily scoffed.

"Hello, Ladies," came a suave voice smoothly from across the table, cutting across their conversation.

The girls looked up to see a rather overweight boy with rather wavy golden hair lying across the top of his round head sitting beside Mary, who scooted away from him.

Lily exchanged a look with Alice that said clearly _What in Merlin's name is he doing here? _

Fortunately the boy took it upon himself to answer their unspoken question.

"I suppose you are wondering to what you owe the pleasure of my company," he began pompously, tossing his head to get a lock of his blonde hair out of his eyes.

Lily was too shocked to reply.

"The name's Lockhart. _Gilderoy_ Lockhart."

Marlene chose this moment to cough rather loudly.

"I couldn't _help_ but notice that you ladies were discussing Quidditch."

How long had this creep been listening in to their conversations?

"I just wanted to tell you that if you ever want to know how a real Quidditch champ flies, you know who to ask!"-here he inserted a greatly exaggerated wink-"You know, one who doesn't crash into castle walls."

For a split second, Lily had the image of Lockhart on a broomstick, his chubby cheeks flapping in the air, turning loop-the-loops like Potter had, waving to a crowd no one could see but him, and crashing into the wall anyway because he wasn't paying attention. She sniggered.

Lockhart looked around at the four girls' expressions and beamed, somehow mistaking their expressions of concealed laughter as those of crazed fangirls. "Sorry ladies, but I'm taken at the moment. I'd be happy to give out autographs, though."

Lockhart proceeded to sign everyone's cloth napkins with a ridiculous peacock quill he produced from nowhere and bottle of color-changing ink.

"I really must be on my way. Nice meeting you all." Lockhart gave them another wink, which looked rather like a wince, and left in the direction of the Ravenclaw table.

The moment he left, the girls burst into laughter.

"He's taken?" Marlene guffawed. "By _who_? He's _eleven_, just like us!"

"I don't know," Mary said mischievously. "Alice seemed pretty captivated by him."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Happy Birthday to Harry Potter and JK Rowling! :D This chapter (well the entire story, really) is dedicated to you. :)

Once more, I posted an unbeta'ed version of this chapter. I wanted to get this up in time for JKR and Harry's birthday, and I wrote it late, so it's totally my fault for any grammatical mistakes and whatnot in this chapter.

REVIEW!

~VictoryNike


	13. The Shack, Part One

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters mentioned belong to me. The characters, the Harry Potter Universe, Hogwarts etc. all belong to JK Rowling. Only the plot is mine.

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><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

The Shack, Part One

Not until Halloween did James deem it the perfect time to exact his revenge on Evans.

"Come on guys, picture it, after the feast, she'll probably already be scared to death, and then we'll sneak up behind her with the Invisibility Cloak, and then trip her and stuff!" James exclaimed.

"I still say if we want it to be seriously scary, we have to lure her to the Forbidden Forest and then scare her," Sirius said in a bored voice. "When are we going to explore the forest, anyway?"

The boys had taken to roaming the school at night with James's Invisibility Cloak, intent on exploring every nook and cranny of the place.

"They say there are werewolves in the forest," Peter said fearfully.

"That's an old wives' tale, Pete!" Sirius scoffed.

"Can we get back to the revenge plan?" James said loudly. "This has got to be perfect! People have to know they can't cross us!"

"Who's us?" Peter piped up.

"The four of us!" James said, gesticulating wildly to himself, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"Excuse me.. I have to...go," said Remus, who had been strangely silent up until now.

"Where?" James asked curiously.

"I don't feel too well...I think I'll go to the Hospital Wing..."

"We'll come with you," Sirius said, rising.

"No!" Remus cried. The other three boys stared.

" I mean, no, it's all right. You guys, keep planning. We can't lose time, Halloween is in only twenty-seven days, after all. I'll be fine." With that, Remus left the boy's dormitory.

As soon as the door swung shut after Remus, it opened once more, revealing a nervous-looking Frank Longbottom. James quickly shoved the sheet of parchment that contained their revenge ideas under Wormtail's bed. He regretted it almost immediately, as the mess under there would make it nearly impossible to find the parchment again.

Frank collapsed on his bed. "What're you guys doing?"

James and Sirius looked at each other, wordlessly trying to find an excuse for being inside on an unusually warm and sunny October evening.

"We're showing some people that nobody can mess with '_us_'" Peter stated loudly, heavily implying some sort of inside joke.

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes. James resisted the urge to slap his own forehead with his hand at Peter's lack of secrecy.

"Okay..." Frank said, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"You know," Peter continued, ignoring the death glare James was shooting him, "people like"-here Peter dropped his voice to a stage whisper- "the Evans girl,"

"You mean Lily?" Frank questioned.

At this point, James would have gladly hexed Peter into the next century. Fortunately for Peter, James didn't know any good hexes. Oh well. James would have strangled Peter if Frank weren't here to witness it. Wasn't Peter smart enough to know that Frank was friends with Evans, just like nearly every other first year who wasn't in Slytherin, it seemed.

"What Peter here _means_ is if anyone were to mess with us, they would seriously be in trouble." James said quickly, inspecting his fingernails in a manner he hoped looked casual yet threatening.

"What does that have to do with Lily?" Frank asked curiously.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "James is madly in love with her, okay?"

"I AM NOT!" James yelled.

"I'm going to go now..." said Frank awkwardly, sparing James a weird look before exiting the room, probably to tell Lily what he just heard.

"What was that?!" James said angrily, punching Sirius in the shoulder.

"So you _do_ fancy her!" Sirius cried gleefully.

Peter was looking from James to Sirius, his eyes wide, mouth stretched into an incredulous smile.

"NO!" James exclaimed, wondering when Sirius had hit his head so hard to suddenly believe that he fancied Lily Evans, of all people. He'd sooner profess his love for Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, than admit he liked Lily Evans. Not that there was anything to admit, of course, since he didn't fancy her in the first place.

"If you don't fancy her, _prove_ it." Sirius challenged, his gray eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth. "Prank her for real. Something that she'll really remember."

"Watch me."

"November _2nd_?" Remus asked, his brow wrinkling. "But...but I thought you wanted to do this on Halloween..."

"Everyone would be at the feast on Halloween night. If we weren't there they'd notice."

"...yeah, but why November 2nd? Can't it be any other day?"

"What's wrong with November 2nd?" James inquired.

"I-I'm going to visit my mother." Remus said hesitantly.

"Why would you do that?" Peter asked curiously.

"Awww. Wittle Remmy misses his mummy!" mocked Sirius and James together.

"Shut up. She's...ill."

"Ill?"

"What's wrong with her?"

"Extended case of dragon pox...you know..."

"She looked fine at the train station." Peter piped up.

Remus stared at him.

"I saw you before I got onto the train...wasn't that lady with you your mother? I mean...she kissed you goodbye and everything..." Peter trailed off.

"That wasn't my mother! It was my...aunt. My mother's twin sister."

Peter, James and Sirius stared at him.

Sirius opened his mouth, probably to make a scathing remark, but James cut him off.

"Lay off him guys. If he says his mum is sick, then his mum's sick. Take his word for it. I guess we'll have to pull this off out without you."

Remus shot him a grateful glance. "I hope it works."

"You know what?" Sirius burst suddenly. "This is stupid. Let's do something actually fun."

"But...James-I mean _we_-have been planning this for ages." Peter said, wrinkling his brow.

"Exactly it's turning into a...an obsession!" Sirius said loudly.

"Besides," he continued, lowering his voice to a dramatic whisper. Intrigued, James leaned closer to hear better. "I hear there's this shack in Hogsmeade, right?"

"How does that-"

"Shut up and I'll _tell_ you, dimwit. Anyways, I hear that the other day, there was howling and stuff coming from in there. The villagers were scared to death. We should go check it out, I mean, we have the cloak and everything, we could totally sneak into Hogsmeade."

Remus had gone strangely pale.

"That's against the rules! First years aren't allowed in Hogsmeade!" Remus cried softly.

"And since when have we let _rules_ stop us?" Peter pointed out, to everyone's surprise.

"Howling?" James asked, perking up, yet another idea taking shape in his head.

"Yeah. And you know the best part?" Sirius grinned. James could tell he had been saving this part for the end.

"What?" asked Peter, playing right into Sirius's hands.

"Well...they reckon there's a _werewolf_ in there."

What little remaining color Remus's face held drained from it.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Peter squealed, looking frantically around them to see if anyone else had heard.

"Of course not!" Sirius said gleefully. "That's why it'd be so fun!"

James's mind raced. He knew there was no way there could actually be a werewolf in the Shack. Sirius was probably exaggerating half of what he said anyway, but what if...what if he could get Lily Evans to believe there was?

He voiced his thoughts aloud.

"Now you're talking." Sirius said happily.

"Guys." Remus's voice sounded oddly strangled. "That's not a good idea. Someone could really get hurt. What if-"

"Loosen up, Remus. There isn't really a werewolf okay? I made that part up to scare Pete." Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

Peter visibly relaxed.

"It's on then." James said, rubbing his hands together, ignoring Remus's continued feeble protests. "Let's do this."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Wow, I finally got Chapter 13 up. The world should be ending about now. XD

I apologize for trolling you people by more talk about James's revenge without actually revealing it. And I probably will keep doing that, because although I originally wanted to include the actual revenge in this chapter, I was taking forever to write it, and I figured I might as well post what I had. I have no idea when the next chapter will be up...it might even be in James's POV again, because I don't think I'm at the right point in the plot to switch to Lily's.

Anyway, please review. I know this sounds extremely ungrateful of me, especially since I haven't posted in forever, but can I ask for something amazing? I'm asking for...65 reviews. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for 65 reviews on this chapter specifically, I'm asking for my total number of reviews to become 65 on this story, so that would mean at least 8 more reviews. I'm not going to say I won't post the next chapter until I get eight reviews, because I'm not sure that would be much motivation anyway, and I generally just post chapters because I enjoy it. I'm asking for 8 reviews because I feel like I need more feedback, the quality of my writing isn't really improving. Please know that I appreciate each and every review, favorite, or alert you guys give me, even if I don't get a chance to PM you to thank you.

Thanks for reading my story, and this painfully long author's note, if you managed to suffer through it somehow.

Review, please, if you feel like it.

~VictoryNike

9/21/12


	14. The Shack, Part Two

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters mentioned belong to me. The characters, the Harry Potter Universe, Hogwarts etc. all belong to JK Rowling. Only the plot is mine.

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><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

The Shack, Part Two

James crept down the stairs, throwing the Invisibility Cloak around him as he did so. It was an usually warm night, and the first years' boys' dormitory was filled with the sound of snoring and uncomfortable sleep. Desiring fresh air and an escape from his vague dreams, James left the common room, his slippered feet padding noiselessly across the corridor.

His thoughts turned, as they so often did, to his impending revenge on Lily Evans. The biggest question, James pondered, was how to get into Hogsmeade. Once they were there, the rest would be simple. Each lesson forced him to admit that Evans was not stupid, in fact she was decently clever. No match for himself, of course, he reassured himself as he wandered aimlessly across the castle, thinking hard, but he would have to come up with something that would really trick her.

"Hand it up, Gid, easy now,"

A voice stopped James in his tracks.

A shock of red hair was crouching beside an eerie statue of a hunchbacked, one-eyed witch, reaching behind it-no, reaching _through _it. James adjusted his glasses, he could not have seen properly. There was no denying it, however, there was a hatch in the one-eyed witch's back.

Another voice, somewhat muffled, called, "That's enough, Fabian. Let's get going before Filch starts poking around..."

There was a grunt as another red-headed boy heaved himself out of the hatch and back onto the floor of the corridor.

James scowled beneath the Invisibility Cloak. It was Gideon and Fabian Prewett, the redheaded twins in the second year. If there was anyone that James knew would stand in the way of himself and his friends becoming the pranking overlords of Hogwarts, it was them, the hilarious twin gingers that had Gryffindor house charmed. James couldn't help but harbor a little resentment for them, despite their affable natures.

James crept closer to them until he stood on the other side of the statue, examining the boxes the boys had appeared to have hauled up from wherever the hatch led to.

"_Honeydukes_," he whispered under his breath, awed. The boxes of sugar quills and various other candies bore the logo of the famous sweet shop his parents had once taken him to, when his father had some business in Hogsmeade. _Hogsmeade! _This was the way into Hogsmeade!

In his excitement, James trod accidentally on the edge of the Cloak, and it fell, exposing his face.

Gideon and Fabian looked up from the boxes, alarmed.

James quickly shoved the Cloak into the shadows as discreetly as he could.

"Bit past your bedtime, isn't it Potter?" asked Gideon warily.

"Past yours too," said James boldly, "But you've obviously got better things to do that sleep,"

James patted the one-eyed witch's hump.

The Prewett's eyes widened.

Fabian laughed. "Not bad for a firstie, Potter, not bad at all."

"What are you going to do, Potter, tell Filch?" Gideon said, only slightly mockingly.

"Not if you tell me how to get down there," James said quickly, flashing the brothers a charming smile.

"Ya know, Gid?" Fabian said quietly, "This kid's got potential. We better tell him. One generation of rule breakers to another."

Gideon heaved up the Honeydukes boxes, balancing them in his arms and nudging Fabian to pick up the rest. "Just tap on her back with your wand and say 'Dissendium!' Takes you straight to the basement of Honeydukes."

"Good luck, kid," said Fabian over his shoulder as the brothers headed back to Gryffindor tower, "and nice pajamas."

James blushed, realizing he was wearing his favorite pajamas, complete with flying snitches zooming all over them.

He pushed aside his embarrassment, keen on seeing if what the Prewett's had told him was true.

"Dissendium!" he muttered, tapping the hump.

There was a soft creaking noise as a hatch materialized. James grinned. Everything was starting to fall into place.

"I still don't think this is a good idea," muttered Remus, nervously.

"Of course it is!" Sirius said waving Remus off. "Now we've got the passage to Hogsmeade and everything!"

"Do you really want to tell something that good to Lily Evans?" Remus asked, looking straight at James.

James mulled this over. This would mean revealing a passageway to Honeydukes-and therefore Hogsmeade-to his arch rival. Then again, not doing so would be an utter waste of the plan and everything they had striven for for so long.

"We don't have a choice," he said briskly. "Besides, once we get through with her, she'll be too scared to ever use that passage again."

Brightening at this sudden stroke of optimism, James ignored Remus's fearful expression and strode into the Charms classroom.

Sirius, James, and Peter leaned casually on the desks surrounding Lily, who was already bent over her schoolwork, Remus trailing behind them.

"So Sirius, do you reckon there's really a werewolf in the Shack down at Hogsmeade?" James asked as nonchalantly as he could.

"Course there is. They're calling it the _Shrieking _Shack now, doesn't that tell you something?" Sirius responded.

"Yeah," added Peter lamely.

"Of course," James said, twirling his quill in his fingers while noting with glee that Lily had stopped scanning the page of her book and was now listening quietly to their conversation. "only the bravest-true Gryffindors-would dare go find out."

"Oh stuff it, Potter," LIly snapped, just as he had known she would. "There aren't any werewolves in Hogsmeade!"

"Prove there aren't," James said, smirking.

"Prove there _are_," retorted Lily.

James exchanged a knowing look with Sirius. She was playing right into their plan.

"Okay." said James quietly.

"What?!"

"Okay." he repeated seriously, looking her in the eye. "I will. Or are you too scared to find out, Evans?"

"I am not sca-" Lily's response was interrupted by the arrival of Marlene, Mary, and Alice.

Marlene glanced pointedly at James and Sirius, looking from them to Lily.

"Lily...uh, why are _they_ here?" Mary whispered.

James's stomach dropped. He had not factored Lily's friends into his plans. He had counted on Lily's pride to draw her into the plan, but he did not know if her friends would follow the same way.

Sirius spoke before James had decided on a course of action.

"We wanted to see if Evans is really brave enough to be a Gryffindor, seeing as she hangs around with that Slytherin slimeball. Care to join us?"

Lily scowled. "These clowns think there's a werewolf in the Shack in Hogsmeade." she rolled her eyes dramatically as if to show that she did not believe them. "They think they've got proof."

"What's that got to do with being a Gryffindor?" asked Alice, narrowing her eyes.

"Are you brave enough to go find out if there's a werewolf in the Shrieking Shack?" James said, playing off of Sirius.

"What's your plan?" asked Lily suspiciously, pinning James with her bright green eyes.

For reasons he could not understand, James felt his breath momentarily catch.

"November second is a full moon," he said, shaking his head slightly to clear it, "that's two days from now. We'll sneak into Hogsmeade that night and hide by the Shrieking Shack. Whoever chickens out and returns to school first has to admit they aren't true Gryffindors."

"First years aren't allowed into Hogsmeade. How are you going to get past it?" Alice asked, logically.

"We have our ways," said Sirius mysteriously.

"Uh, Lily, I don't think we should-" began Mary timidly.

"Unless you're a pack of cowards." James looked directly into Lily's eyes as he said this, knowing this would be the final straw.

"How dare you," hissed Lily. "Fine. Bring it on, Potter. November 2nd in the common room. We'll be waiting."

James grinned. This was exactly what he had been waiting for.

"Settle down, settle down. It's time to begin," cried Professor Flitwick from the front of the room.

James made to sit down, but Lily called after him.

"Wait." he turned to meet her ferocious glare. "Shake on it."

She held out her hand.

"What?" James said, thoroughly confused.

"Its called _honor, _Potter. Not that you've got any. Shake my hand and swear you won't double cross us or something. Lock us in a classroom or something like that instead of showing us how to get to Hogsmeade so we can settle this challenge."

James rolled his eyes. "All right then, Evans, I'll shake your hand."

They grasped hands. James felt an odd, tingling sensation, and for the second time in the last five minutes, he felt as though he had forgotten to breathe.

Although, for the life of him, he simply couldn't figure out why.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Oh gosh, over a year since the last chapter was posted and two author's notes, and a hefty amount of doubt regarding whether or not this story was going to continue, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you the highly delayed fourteenth chapter of Mischief Managed!

So I have a lot to apologize for, my long absence, my indecisiveness regarding whether or not this was going to continue, and the last couple of author's notes. I finally got it together enough to write this chapter. The next chapter WILL include the prank, I promise. The only reason I cut it off here was because I wanted to switch viewpoints...this time potentially to Remus's POV. Let me know if you think this would be an interesting idea to try out. :)

On a different topic, as mentioned in my last post/author's note, I am writing a whole new Lily/James story called Head In the Clouds, which will be a lot shorter and better thought out. Please take a look at it if you get the chance, and maybe drop a review.

Also, I am planning to delete the last couple of "chapters" (the author's note ones) so if you get another alert for Chapter 15, it is because I will have posted another chapter.

Best wishes to everybody, and I apologize once more for all of my ambiguity regarding this story. Thank you to all of my reviewers, followers, favoriters (is that a word?) and readers! You guys make my day!

Oh and **_review_** maybe? This chapter was a bit hurried; kindly excuse any errors (feel free to review and correct them though!)

~VictoryNike

8/11/13


	15. The Bet

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters mentioned belong to me. The characters, the Harry Potter Universe, Hogwarts etc. all belong to JK Rowling. Only the plot is mine.

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><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

The Bet

* * *

><p>"Lily, are you crazy?" Alice hissed as they made their way down the narrow staircase from the girls' dormitory to the common room. "This is what they want, you know that? They want to see how far you'll go. You're taking the bait."<p>

"Shhh," Lily silenced her, motioning for Mary, Marlene, and Alice to shrink back into the shadows at the sound of voices coming from the common room.

"Just our luck Remus had to go see his mother today, isn't it," said Peter glumly.

"Maybe he's scared of the werewolf," sniggered Sirius.

"Guys, shut up. They'll be here soon." James muttered.

"Funny you should mention us," Lily said, walking into the light of the common room, trying to ignore both Alice's warning looks and her own doubt.

"Congratulations, Evans, you're already braver than we thought," Sirius taunted, "You actually showed up. Now you're up to, I don't know, Hufflepuff level."

"Lets just get this over with, Black." Marlene spoke up.

"Fine. Let's go." James said, and motioned for the others to follow him out of the portrait hole.

"And get caught by Filch? I think not." Marlene crossed her arms.

James merely smirked in reply. "Go for it, Pete."

The pudgy boy pulled a dangerous looking red firecracker from the pocket of his robes, gave in a prod with his wand, and hurled it over the edge of the nearest staircase. Lily looked on as it exploded, three floors below onto a cabinet.

"PEEVES!" bellowed Filch, rushing to the scene. "Now I've got you!"

"Now," James said calmly, "We run before he realizes it wasn't Peeves."

With that, the boys began sprinting down the corridor in the opposite direction.

The four girls hastened to follow, Mary with some hesitation.

It occurred to Lily as she ran after them, struggling to run quickly while making as little noise as possible, that James had obviously thought this through. Despite not having known him very long, she knew this could not be a good thing.

James came to an abrupt halt at the end of a corridor, at the foot of a statue of a hump-backed witch that had always creeped Lily out for some reason. Sirius, who evidently hadn't realized James had stopped, crashed into him with a loud yelp.

There was a soft meow as Mrs. Norris materialized.

"Oh no," Alice groaned, "I've heard she can smell trouble from a mile away and she has psychic connections to Filch!"

Everyone stared at her.

"Hey, you gotta admit its kinda creepy how she just _materialized_-"

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" bellowed a nasally voice.

"Filch!"

James swore under his breath. He pulled out his wand and tapped the Witch's Hump.

"_Dissendium!_" he muttered, and a hatch appeared on the witch's back. "Everyone in, lets go."

Lily was surprised to be sure, but she had long since accepted that unexpected things were the norm in the wizarding world. What surprised her more was that Potter did not enter the secret passage first, but instead waited for everyone to enter before him.

Lily felt her heartbeat quicken as Filch's footsteps grew louder and Mrs. Norris mewed.

"Hurry up, Evans." Potter whispered hastily, prodding her toward the hatch.

Lily summoned her courage and jumped into the void. For a second, she seemed to be falling through never ending darkness before landing painfully on the hard floor, sliding down a steep ramp. Before Lily had time to collect her thoughts, she had collided hard with something soft. It squealed.

"Alice?"

"I'm alive!" Alice cried.

"Oh stuff it." Sirius interjected.

"Ow! That's my arm!"

"Oh. Sorry, Mary."

"Where the bloody hell are we?" Marlene interrupted.

"WOULD EVERYONE SHUT UP FOR A SECOND?" James yelled.

They shut up.

"_Lumos_."

The light from James's wand illuminated the seven of them squashed into a tiny place, with whitewashed walls, a wooden floor, and several boxes.

For the first time, Lily felt the weight of Alice's warning. _They just want to see how far you'll go. _What if James had taken them to the middle of nowhere just to get them in trouble? Who knew where this secret passage could lead.

She glanced at her friends' faces. Marlene's was set, determined. Mary's was terrified. And Alice-Alice's expression was furious.

"I swear," she said, her voice low and menacing, "I swear that if you've taken us to some magic-forsaken place in the middle of nowhere I will _skin you alive_."

For just a moment, James's cool expression faltered. "Our bet is still on. We will stick to the terms. As soon as I figure out how to get us out of here…"

"Wait." Sirius said. "I thought you said you had this all figured out already, mate!"

The tiny room erupted into noise as everyone began to speak at once.

"I'm going back to the castle!" Mary burst out, turning back to the slide.

"What do you _mean '_as soon as you figure out of to get us out of here', Potter?" Lily exclaimed.

"CHOCOLATE" screamed Peter.

"What?"

"Chocolate from Honeydukes!" Peter repeated gleefully.

"Don't stuff your face, you fool, its not yours." Marlene grabbed Peter by the neck and pulled his head out of the crate of chocolate.

"There we go," said Potter, sliding open another hatch in the ceiling. "We are in the cellar of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade."

"What's Honeydukes?" Lily asked, feeling rather out of the loop.

"Only the best chocolate shop in the whole world," Peter sighed, looking longingly at the crate of chocolates.

"Lets go." Potter said, this time stepping through the hatch himself and beckoning for them to follow.

Mary hesitated for a moment, but followed the rest into the empty chocolate shop.

Lily paused at a case displaying blood-flavored lollipops. "Are those actually-"

"Come on! We haven't got time to waste!" James said, gesturing toward the door.

They slipped out of the shop door and into the empty streets of Hogsmeade.

James led them down the lane. Lily looked curiously at the shops as they passed, The Three Broomsticks, Madam Puddifoot's, and finally, at the very end of the row of shops, a seedy looking place called The Hogs' Head.

But James seemed to be leading them beyond that, past the lifeless shops and up a hill. The night was unusually bright, the full moon ahead glowing upon the empty streets, creating even more shadows, it seemed. Lily felt a sudden fear take over her. Here she was, breaking curfew, school rules, venturing off of school grounds! Three months ago she hadn't even been sure she would get her letter, but here she was.

And Severus! What would Sev think? Lily hadn't said anything to him but she knew he would never approve. Mary had been awfully quiet, even for her, tonight. Alice had openly warned Lily against following James on this bet. Perhaps...perhaps LIly should have listened to them.

James walked up to the very edge of a line of trees.

"The other side of the Forbidden Forest," breathed Alice, grabbing Lily's arm.

Lily felt a rush of affection for Alice, remembering how she had disapproved of this venture but had accompanied Lily anyway and even convinced Marlene and Mary to come.

"Here we are," James said grinning, stopping at an old, rickety Shack constructed at the edge of the forest. "The Shrieking Shack!"

The wind picked up, suddenly chilling Lily to the bones.

An eerie howl sounded from somewhere in the forest.

...Was it the wind?

Lily heard it again, like the howl of someone in unbearable pain, the howl of someone trapped.

"Did you hear that?" whispered Peter, his voice even higher than it usually was.

_They say there are werewolves in the Forbidden Forest…_

The smirk fell off of Potter's face. For the first time, he looked wary.

"Scared, Evans?" he mocked, but the words were nullified by his own wide eyes.

Once more, the ghostly howl echoed across the forest. But this time it was closer. Almost as though it was in…

"The Shrieking Shack." whispered Sirius.

"October Fourth!" yelled James. "Sirius! How did we miss it?"

"November 2nd," Sirius added, his voice uncharacteristically silent.

He looked at James, and the two of them seemed to have a wordless communication.

"We have to get out of here," James yelled, the wind whipped his already wild hair up and the fear made his face pale and his eyes wide behind his glasses. He looked like a mad man.

He looked terrified.

Ridiculously, the first thought that came to Lily's mind was that James had lost the bet. But her victory quickly turned to fear as well as she hear a deep, guttural growl that accompanied the howl.

It was the most horrible thing she had heard in her entire life, like a scream of unendurable agony and irreparable regret. Beneath it was unquenchable anger, a thirst for blood.

Suddenly Lily could not bear to hear that sound anymore. She suddenly realized that the magical world was more than just the wonderful things she had seen so far. It held greater wonders than the world she came from, but it also held darker secrets.

A chill struck her heart. The vague innocence she had held regarding the wizarding world was gone.

And she was afraid.

It was impossible to tell who started running first. In a heartbeat the seven of them were tearing down the deserted streets of Hogsmeade, tripping over their feet, a mass of ragged breaths and frightened minds.

The growls echoed behind them. Lily couldn't tell if they were growing closer or farther. The dark seemed oppressive, suffocating.

They nearly missed the door of Honeydukes. "There!" yelled Mary as the rest of them nearly skidded past it.

She yanked on the door. "Its locked!" she wailed.

"Use your wand!" roared Sirius.

"_Alo-Alohamora_," whimpered Mary. Nothing happened.

"Evans!" Potter cried.

"What?!"

"You unlock it, you're good at charms!"

"_Alohamora_!" Lily practically screamed at the lock, which jumped open.

No sooner had Sirius grabbed the door and opened it than a loud siren began blaring.

"What is this?" Lily shrieked. "Why is it making this noise!"

"They must have put some sort of alarm on the door!"

Lights switched on above the shop. Lily realized with a shiver that the shop owners must live above their store.

"Go!" mouthed Potter, and they darted into the shop and down the trapdoor into the cellar. They didn't stop running until they had gone back up the slippery passageway, out of the One Eyed Witch's hatch, and arrived at Gryffindor tower.

"And just where have you been?" the Fat Lady began interrogatively, taking in their flushed faces.

"_Pumpernickel. _Open up already," said Sirius, annoyed.

They collapsed into the common room.

There was silence for a moment, as they gathered their breath in the dark common room.

"What the bloody hell _was that_?" said Marlene shakily.

Nobody replied. There was a heated silence as everyone wondered what to say.

"Well. Are you happy now?" Alice demanded. "Have you got your 'revenge', Potter? Have you won your 'bet', Lily? We nearly died."

Lily fought back tears. What if Alice said was right? What if she really had nearly led her friends to their deaths? All for a stupid bet with Potter. _Potter. _

This was all his fault. And hers, for being stupid enough to take the bait.

She stood up wordlessly and left the common room, climbing the girls staircase alone, eyes squeezed tightly against the tears.

She hated James Potter.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Whew! Chapter 15! Apologies for the long wait (again!). I hope you enjoyed it. Please REVIEW and let me know!

In other news I wrote a new one shot called _Trade_! Its about Lily and Petunia you should go check it out! I'm also really excited about my other James/Lily story _Head In the Clouds!_ It involves James training to be a professional Quidditch player and I'd love if you could take a look at that too!

That's all for the shameless self plugs :3

Thanks for reading and reviewing guys!

Yours,

VictoryNike

2/23/2014


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